PEN AND PENCIL 

IN 

ASIA MINOR; 



NOTES FBOM THE LEVANT. 



\ 

\ 



f WILLIAM COCHRAN, 

MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY OP ARTS ; THE HIGHLAND AND AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY LONDON AND 
EDINBURGH; AND FORMERLY OF THE ASIATIC SOCIETY, LONDON AND SHANGHAI. 



ILLUSTRATED WITH EIGHTY-NINE ENGRAVINGS, MADE CHIEFLY FROM 
WATER-COLOUR SKETCHES BY THE AUTHOR. 



j NOV 14.1888 ] ! 



NEW YORK: 
S CRIB NEK AND WELFOKD, 

743 & 745 BROADWAY. 

1888. 




LONDON: 

PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, Limited, 

STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. 



®y Treses 
J* 12 I* a 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

List of the Illustrations . . » . . . . . . . . , xiv 

Prologue, dealing with the Period between 1864 and 1885 . . xvii 

CHAPTER L 

Liverpool to Gibraltar. — Mediterranean routes — Start from Liverpool — 
The docks — Breakfast on board — The passengers — Off Holyhead — 
Skerry rocks — Gaps at the dinner-table — Neptune claims tribute- 
Uproar on deck — General suffering below — Gradual recovery — Bay of 
Biscay passed — Accident to a clergyman-— Portuguese coast — Cintra 
and Cape Rocco— Mouth of the Tagus — Spanish mountains — Strait of 
Gibraltar— Political squabble in the saloon — Off to bed Pages 1 to 12 

CHAPTER II. 

Gibraltar to Malta. — Magnificent sunrise— Literary fever — Our rhymster 
— Our "Ancient Mariner" — Granacla arid Almeria mountains — Sierra 
Nevadas peaks— Malaga — Cape Gata — Algeria — Town of Oran— Another 
exquisite sunrise — Mountains of Algeria — " Tail end of a sirocco " — 
Gulf of Tunis — Galita islands — Pantellaria island— The "Ancient 
Mariner " on cuddies an' grapes — Divine service — Glimpses of Sicily — 
Mount Etna — Speed of steamer reduced — Literary activity — Malta at 
early morn'— Scene from the deck — Grand Harbour — Fort St. Angelo 
— Difficulties on landing — Valetta — Strada Santa Lucia, or street of 
steps — Priests everywhere — The Governor's Palace — Church of St. John 
— Priestly intolerance — The forts — Our departure Pages 13 to 31 

CHAPTER III. 

Malta, to Syra and Smyrna. — Injured clergyman left at Malta— Cape 
Matapan — Coast of Greece — Mount Elias — Imposing landscape — Fog 
Speed reduced — Stoppage — Island of Cerigo, birth-place of Venus — 

a 2 



IV 



CONTENTS. 



Lacedasmonia — Cervi — Cape Malea — Distant view of Candia — Hermit's 
hut and chapel — Melos — Seriphos — Siphnos — Serpho Poulo — Karavi 
— Belo Poulo — Falconera — Island of Syra — Sights of Syra — Churches 
and flowers — Torturing an octopus — School attendance — Great men of 
Syra — Departure — Gulf of Smyrna — Mimas peak — Sunrise in the 
gulf — The Turkish fort Sanjak Kalissi — Fertile peninsula — Agamem- 
non's Baths — First glimpse of Smyrna — Termination of the voyage 

Pages 32 to 46 

CHAPTER IV. 

Preliminaries of the Silk Harvest.' — Hospitahly entertained — Made a 
member of Greek and European clubs — Object of visit — Mr. John 
Griffitt of Bournahat — His sericultural efforts — Regenerated eggs — 
Beginning of season's distribution of eggs — Hagelar village — Pictures of 
the peasantry — Anxiety to get eggs — Their homes, splendours, and 
hospitality — A false family — Musical names and language — Change of 
scene to Magnesia — Distinguished travelling companions — Scenes on 
the railway — Magnesia — Statue de Cybele, or Niobe — An impostor 
defeated — Village of Chobanissa — Camel encampment — Sardis 

Pages 47 to 61 

CHAPTER V. 

The Mulberry. — Varieties — Morus alba the best for silkworms — Mistaken 
views in America and elsewhere — Merits and demerits of other kinds — 
Feeding for colour — Chief silk-producing countries — Management of 
seedlings in France — Plantations — Captain Mason of Yateley, Hamp- 
shire, an authority on silk-farming — Fortune's silk experiences in 
China — Schuyler's experiences in Turkestan — Mr. John Griffitt's ex- 
perience in Asia Minor — Seedlings, cuttings, and layering — Pruning 
the morus alba — Scarcity of leaves not common in China — Plantations 
isolated from magnaneries — Scene in China during leaf harvest — 
Partial leaf-famine at Bournabat — Plan for tiding over a scarcity of 
mulberry leaves — Ensilage of leaves . . . . Pages 62 to 74 

CHAPTER VI. 

Graine Distribution. — At Bournabat — Rush of the peasantry to obtain 
regenerated eggs — Scenes at the distribution — Greek, Turkish, French 
and English, all being spoken at once — Cross-examination to prevent 
imposture — Applicants kept in check by one another — A twelve-miles' 
drive — Little military station — Black Turkish coffee without sugar — 
Approach to Nymph io — Ruined palace of Andronicus the younger — 
Cherry orchards gay with blossom — Prancing up the main street of 
Nympliio — Eager crowd waiting for silkworms' eggs — Distribution 



CONTENTS. 



v 



' from the house of a vineyard-owner — Premature hatching — Spend the 
night at Nymphio — The village doctor — Scene with a suspicious old 
lady next morning — Surroundings of the town — A ride into the 
brigand region — Turkish military escort — Scenes by the way — Rock- 
hewn bas-relief of Rameses II., commonly called Sesostris, believed to 
be the oldest piece of carving in the world — Sketching under the 
protection of four loaded rifles — Wretched roads — Return 

Pages 75 to 85 

CHAPTER VII. 

The Nursery and its Appliances. — Mr. Griffitt's observations — Tribute to 
M. Louis Pasteur — JS'urseries should be airy and clean — Hints as to 
educations — Ventilation and heating — Suggestions as to stoves — The 
incubator — Thermometer and hygrometer — Leaf cutter — Pierced 
papers and their advantages — Stands and frames — The microscope — 
The cocoon-steamer . . . . . . . . . . Pages 86 to 97 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Turkey Carpets. — Probable origin of the carpet — Were made in Asia 
Minor before Homer's time — Very ancient industry in India and 
Africa — In Britain and France — Dutch carpet loom — Duke of Cumber- 
land, an encourager of the industry — About Turkey carpets — Oushak 
Ghiordes and Koula, places of manufacture — Something about Oushak 
— Its inaccessibility — Carpets brought to railway station eighty miles 
on camel-back — European machinery tried and abandoned — Particulars 
of spinning, dyeing, and manufacture — Novelties not appreciated by 
the weavers — Story about a carpet — The Messrs. Griffitt of Smyrna 

Pages 98 to 106 

CHAPTER IX. 

Educating the Silkworm. — Mr. John Griffitt's experiences — Decline of 
sericulture in Turkey — Regeneration of silkworms — Preparing for in- 
cubation — Feeding — Disposal of the young worms at different elevations 
— Give abundance of space — Feed with dry leaves — Perfect cleanliness 
required — The critical age — Use disinfectants, and give fresh air — 
Incubating in France and Italy — Moulting periods — Quantities of food 
devoured— Italian estimates — Maturity hastened by heat — Chinese 
ideas — Debernardi on feeding — Miss Bird's observations in Japan — 
Explanation of seeming incongruities — Mr. Griffitt on incubation — 
On the various ages, and how the sericulturist should act — On periods 
of feeding — On the moultings — Total food consumption — On mounting 
to spin — Gathering the cocoons — Separating the perfect cocoons for 
graine — Steaming.. .. .. .. .. Pages 107 to 131 



vi 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTEK X. 

Greek Institutions of Smyrna. — Anniversary of assertion of Greek in- 
dependence — Patriotic displays — Estimate of the population — Reason 
for Greek increase — Facts about Greece — King George — The Greek 
prelates in Smyrna, Archbishop Basilius and Bishop Athanasius 
Kyrilos — Story of the latter — Celebration of Easter — A midnight orgie 
— The Greek Hospital — Greek munificence to their institutions — 
Eagerness for education — Greek veneration for Mr. Gladstone — Greek 
pride in Lord Cochran — Items in the Cochran genealogy — Rev. Mr. 
Hill and Mrs. Hill of Athens — Story of two American missionaries and 
a little Greek maiden — Rev. Mr. Hill's educational triumphs 

Pages 132 to 146 

CHAPTER XI. 

Mysteries of Reproduction.— Selecting the cocoons — Discriminative ex- 
amination for sex — Stringing the cocoons for reproduction — Issue of 
the moths — Difference in appearance between the sexes — Coupling the 
moths — Laying eggs on inclined surfaces — An exception in the Bagdad 
moth — Caution against contamination — Removing the eggs — Preserv- 
ing the graine — Consignment of graine — Pasteur's cellular system — 
Method of producing cellular graine — Mr. Griffitt's invigorating 
practice — Twelve rules for sericulturists . . Pages 147 to 164 

CHAPTER XII. 

Three Turkish Institutions. — Smyrna — Turkey improving — Hospitality — 
The konak — Barracks — The Hospital — Achmet Kiazim Effendi — 
Merits of the Hospital — A suggested improvement — The Hospital 
gardens — The Industrial School for Orphan Boys — Yousuf Zia Effendi 
— Scenes inside the institution — The School of Commerce and Agri- 
culture — Mehemed Noury Bey . . .. .. Pages 165 to 173 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Diseases of the SilJcivorm. — Rapid progress of, in France — Beginning of the 
industry there — Climax of its prosperity — Diagram of silk harvests 
from 1821 to 1881 — Decadence — Febrine in Lombardy — The hunt for 
undiseased eggs — Every country smitten, except Japan — A wail of 
anguish from France — Pasteur employed — His success in probing the 
secrets of disease — Flacherie in France — Pasteur's microscope the 
conqueror — Something about pebrine — Experiments — Proved to be 
both hereditary and contagious — Method of detection — Chinese ideas 
on the subject — Precautions formerly taken in France — Anecdote of 
Aries— No known cure for pebrine, but it can be warded off — Flacherie 



CONTENTS. 



vii 



— Pasteur's researches — Microscope again employed — Lady Claud 
Hamilton's translation of Pasteur's labours recommended — Mr. John 
Griffitt on flacherie — Is an accidental, but contagious disease — His 
experiments — Lessons inculcated — Pasteur's views summarised — 
Causes of flacherie— Dissection of the chrysalis and explanation — 
Tests for detecting the disease — Muscardine — Its symptoms — Is owing 
to a parasitic plant — Cause and prevention . . Pages 174 to 198 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Use of the Microscope in Sericulture. — Early history of the instrument — 
Microscope recommended — Method of procedure — An examination for 
pebrine — Difference between corpuscles and fat globules — Observations 
should be registered — Method of counting the corpuscles on a disc — 
Inspecting for reproduction — Pasteur's advice to silk-farmers — Care 
and cleanliness of the apparatus . . . . . . Pages 199 to 208 

CHAPTER XV. 

Agriculture around Smyrna. — The Scottish farmer — Features of Asia 
Minor — Vilayet of Ai'din — The soil — Its products — German vineyards 
near Koukloudjah — Mr. Griffitt of Bournabat — Statistics by His Ex- 
cellency Hussein Hilmi Effendi — His Excellency Kemal Bey, governor 
of Rhodes — Means of irrigation — Halka Bounar, or Diana's Bath — 
Fountains of Nympbio — Field labour — Vagabonds from Greek islands 
— Ionian cultivators — Amusing letter of a pauper — The mendicant 
element — Cost of labour — Value of land — Vine a so'urce of wealth — 
Turkish money — Brigandage curbed by the late governor, His Ex- 
cellency Hadji Nachid Pasha — Advance in land value at Chobanissa — 
Defiance of a landowner by Greeks — Advantages to agriculturists in 
the vilayet of Ai'din . . Pages 209 to 221 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Fraudulent Insurers in Smyrna. — An Italian apophthegm — The three 
scourges of the Levant — Midnight fires — Inflammability of the gener- 
ality of the native buildings — The slinking incendiary — Enthusiasm 
for insuring — Losses far exceed the premiums — Difficulty of knowing 
the honest man from the rascal — Few fires where not insured — Houses 
bought to be burnt — Native doctor arrested for fire-raising and con- 
demned — Efficient fire-brigade maintained solely by British insurance 
companies — Precautions against fire — Curious marine insurance dispute 
— An impudent claim by a Smyrna shopkeeper — Three shelves of a 
store magnified into three floors of a warehouse — A consular court 
wigged by a Constantinople judge . . . . Pages 222 to 229 



viii 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

The Smyrna and Aidin Railway. — Introduction — Features of first twenty- 
miles — Stations open to all loafers and beggars — Haunts for the 
thirsty, and hunting-grounds for pedlars — Euins of Metropolis near 
Turbali — Gallessium mountains — M. Fontrier — Pegasaean lake — 
Kelchie Kaleh — Legend — River Cayster — Ayasouluk, the station for 
Ephesus — Remains of aqueduct — Stork's nests — A feverish locality — 
The Byzantine castle — Mr. Woods, a former excavator at Ephesus — 
Region of bloom and floral splendour — Train slides down an incline of 
eight miles, with wheels in iron shoes — The fig country — Azizieh — 
"Windings of the Masander — Ruins of Magnesia — River Lethe — Poppies 
grown for opium — A'idin a good market — Omurlu — Kiosk — Figs, 
olives, and vines everywhere — Valonia oak at Chifte Kiosk — Sultan 
Hissar, the birth-place of Strabo — Atche and Nazli — Kuyujak — 
Horsunlee, beyond the fruit region — Barley everywhere — Mount 
Cadmus — Seraikeuy, the present terminus of the line — Absence, 
except at one place, of modern agricultural machinery — Get lodgings 
in a house belonging to the railway company Pages 230 to 241 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



Hierapolis and Laodicea. — Seraikeuy village — Fare provided without 
notice by the Greek landlady — House clean and comfortable — No 
nocturnal insects — Awakened before dawn by the crowing of countless 
cocks, and braying of innumerable donkeys — We prepare to ride forth, 
a party of six — Incidents by the way — Colony of Bulgarians — Ruins of 
Hierapolis, much exaggerated as to splendour — Rifled tombs — Violated 
sarcophagi — Solid marble lake — Impressiveness of the scene — Plateau 
seemingly carved out of the side of the Messogis mountains — The 
white terraces — Cascades — A weird, wild landscape, difficult to describe 
— The hot pool — Theatre — Traces of the destructive Goth — Mutilated 
marble frieze — View from the theatre' — The colonnade — The 
gymnasium — The hot-water conduits — Vast extent of the lime in- 
crustations — Ground much fissured by earthquakes — Tribe of Turko- 
man nomads — Offer scraps of worthless potsherds — Not dangerous, but 
unsavoury — Hot pool inviting for a bath — Oleanders and blossoming 
pomegranates around — Ride resumed to north-west — Laodicea — Utter 
desolation — Broken or empty sarcophagi tumbled about all over the 
hill of approach — Fields of barley, and reapers at work — Discovery of 
a Greek inscription — The return « . . . Pages 242 to 256 



CONTENTS. 



ix 



CHAPTER XIX. 

The Bournabat Silk Harvest of 1885. — Unprecedented success — Smyrna 
formerly a silk-producer — Extinction of the industry — Mr. Griffitt's 
efforts at revival — Distribution of eggs — Terms of distribution — Partner- 
ship arrangements — Average educations — Breeds of silkworm — Their 
regeneration — Silk for fishing-nets — Story of a yellow race — The hybrid 
race — Nun, or negro worms — Weights of the four races — Beginning of 
an incubation — Feeding- — -Visiting adjoining sericulturists — Space 
necessary for educating one-and-a-half ounces of eggs — Scarcity of 
leaves for food — Termination of feeding — Bringing in the brushwood 
— Spinning the cocoons — Keeling live cocoons — Steaming — Stringing 
for reproduction — Issue of moths — Pioneer worms and moths — Result 
of the harvest — Rewards to peasant educators — Obligation of Turkish 
Government to Mr. Griffitt .. .. ,. Pages 257 to 268 

CHAPTER XX. 

Smyrna to Constantinople. — Steamer arrangements — Beginning of the 
voyage — Traits of character — An astronomical party — Island of 
Mitylene — Splendour of the morning sky-tints — The Troad — Tenedos 
Island — Beshika Bay — Entrance to the Dardanelles — Particulars of 
the forts and guns— Chanak — The castles of the Dardanelles, Chanak- 
Kalesi, and Kilid-bahr — The pottery agent — Strait of Abydos, where 
celebrated swimmers crossed the Hellespont — Prevalence of cultivation 
— Gallipoli — Sea of Marmora — Thracian Chersonesus — Rodosto — The 
nine Prinkipos islands — Approach to Constantinople — The buildings — 
Mosque of St. Sophia — Galata — Topkhane — Pera — The Bosphorus and 
its beauties— The Golden Horn Pages 269 to 279 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Constantinople. — Difficulty of deciding where to go first — Suggestions — 
The guide and his fee — List of objects of interest — Probable position 
of the steamer — Commencement of sight-seeing — The mosque of St. 
Sophia — Other mosques — The hippodrome and its obelisks — Bronze 
column from Ephesus — Cisterns of Philoxenus — The Seven Towers — 
Museum of costumes — Museum of Antiquities — The great bazaars — 
Genoese watch-tower — View from the summit — The whole a gorgeous 
panorama — Topkhane — Galata — Pera — S tamboul — Con cl u sion 

Pages 280 to 293 

CHAPTER XXII. 

German Competition in the East. — Activity of travellers — German consuls 
more useful than English — Prince Bismarck always on the watch — 



X 



CONTENTS 



Technical education required by British lads — Germans good linguists 
— Advantage this confers in Asia Minor — German humours the country- 
buyer — German travellers riding forth — Neglect by British Govern- 
ment of their subjects in Turkey — Opposite policy of the Germans — 
Waste of British money on ambassadorial and consular buildings and 
gardens — Economy in this respect of the Germans — Their liberality 
in grants for educational purposes — The German Deaconesses Institu- 
tion — Good results — German school and American college at Pera, and 
on the Bosphorus — British children wholly dependent on Americans, 
Germans, and Greeks for their education — Plethoric officials indulged 
by British Government, and education starved Pages 294 to 299 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

The Bosphorus. — A "party made up to pic-nic on — Extent of current, 
always flowing westwards — Curves and promontories — Beginning of 
the voyage at the Bridge of Boats over the Golden Horn — Mosques 
seen from the starting-point — Turkish captains give orders in English — 
The marble-fronted palaces — Scene of the assassination of Abdul Aziz 
— Leander's tower — Skutari — Kadikeui — Moda Bay — Dolma Bagtche 
palace — Cheraghan palace — Sultan's present kiosk — The Selamlik, or 
weekly visit of the Sultan to a mosque — Ortakeuy mosque — Pretty 
scenes — Imperial kiosk of white marble — Steamer zig-zagging across 
the strait — Rumli and Anadolu Hissar — A historic spot — Strong 
current — Roberts' College — Source of Bulgarian education and love of 
liberty — Therapia Bay — Ambassador's houses — Sir Henry Drummond 
Wolff and his mission — Buyukdere Bay — The Black Sea — Therapia — 
Historic plane- tree — Turkoman gypsies — Return to Constantinople 

Pages 300 to 315 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

Constantinople to Dede Agatch and Smyrna. — Village of Eyob — Ships of 
war — Sweet Waters of Europe — Arrival at Eyob (Job) — Relics pre- 
served in the mosque, but no admission for any Christian — Prince of 
Wales said to have been refused entrance — 'View from top of cemetery 
very fine — Tombs unattractive — Drinking-troughs for dogs — Repro- 
duction of diaries on board — Departure from Constantinople- — Sea of 
Marmora — Rodosto — Gallipoli — Divine service on board — Through the 
Dardanelles — Imbros — Samothraki — Arrival at Dede Agatch, Roumelia 
— Terminus of railway to the Danube — Roadstead wholly exposed — 
Story about the railway and Russian plotting — Russian designs — No 
attractions about Dede Agatch — Believed to be unhealthy — Daubers 
and scribblers at work — Thaso isle — Departure — Island of Mitylene or 
Lesbos — Khios — Arrival at Smyrna .. .. Pages 316 to 326 



CONTENTS. 



xi 



CHAPTER XXV. 



Smyrna and its Neighbourhood. — Statistics — How to see the town — 
Difficulties — Strings of loaded camels — Street scenes — Objects of in- 
terest — Dancing dervishes — Distant objects of interest, such as the 
Apocalyptic churches — Villages around Smyrna — Cordelio — Sanjak 
Kalissi — Agamemnon's Baths — Boudjah — Bournabat — Koukloudjah — ■ 
Diana's Bath — Something about the last four places — Attractions — 
" Jacob's well " — Healthful situations — Anecdote about three Jewish 
smokers — Picturesque streets and bazaars — Bournabat the focus of the 
regenerated silk industry — Lake of Tantalus — Scene of the punishment 
of the son of Jupiter and Pluto — Koukloudjah formerly a favourite 
resort for Smyrna merchants — The brigand Catterdjee Janni and his 
victim — Charming view from the village — Kiatib Oglu, a former 
governor of Smyrna — His tragic fate — Subject of a Turkish ballad — 
Bath of Diana claimed to be adjoining the birth-place of Homer — 
Statue of goddess found in the pool — Very feverish neighbourhood — 
Something about Smyrna — Its origin — Sufferings from earthquakes — 
Laughable anecdote — Scene of Polycarp's martyrdom — Deaconesses 
Institution . . Pages 327 to 339 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

Brigandage in Asia Minor. — Probable origin — Suppression of the Janis- 
saries in 1826 — : Close of Crimean war in 1856 — Sultan Mahmoud — 
Mahomet Ali — Righeb Pasha — Tchapan Oglu — Salomon Alteras — 
Rebellions against the Turks — Attack on the Janissaries — Abdul 
Mijid— Brigandage in the Smyrna district — Greek raiders— Ziebecs — 
Different systems of attack — Father and daughter ■ seized — Armenian 
gentleman captured — Turkish farmer pounced upon — Captain Andrea 
— Thrilling anecdote. of crime — Seizure of opium by brigands — The 
comedy of brigandage — Osman using the rod of correction — Capture of 
a band of thirteen cut-throats — Two diabolical wretches — Theft of two 
Turkish girls — Combination of brigands for a stroke of business — 
Capture of thirty well-known Smyrna merchants — Ransomed for 
£1800 — Ultimate surrender of the brigands — Received by the governor 
and pardoned — Transformed into vigilant policemen— Their infant 
virtue fails — They black-mail the peasantry under cover of their 
uniform — The Procureur-General — The ruffians ordered back to Smyrna 
— Their arrest in the konak — A free fight — Imprisonment — General 
Osman Pasha — The barracks — Teufik Bey — An album of brigands — 
How is the evil to be rooted out ? .. . . Pages 340 to 357 



xii 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 
The Sites of the Apocalyptic Churches. 
Ephesus (1). 

Former visitors to — Situation — Word-picture of — Its ancient features 

— Temple of Diana — Building and dimensions of — Mount Prion — 

Legends regarding — Other buildings — Seat of the " Black Art " — 
Destruction of city and temple — etc. 



Smyrna (2). 

Early history — Modern volcanic convulsions — Polycarp — Rev. Dr. Norman 
Macleod — Statistics of — Features of streets — Difficulty of getting 
about — etc. 

Pergamos (3). 

Situation — Origin — Library — Invention of parchment — Extensive ruins 
— Nautical amphitheatre. 

Thyatira (4). 

Limited ancient history — Fame for dyeing — Theatre of stirring scenes — 
Scantiness of ancient remains — The modern town — Itinerary. 



Sardis (5). 

Position — Defective ancient history — Monarchs — Tomb of Alyattes — 
Croesus — Lydian pursuits — Overthrow — Extinction. 

Philadelphia (6). 

Beauty of approach to — Statistics — Estimating distances — Origin — 
Paucity of ancient remains — Historical account — The modern town — 
Long Christian record — Hospitality of the people — Anecdote of silk- 
farming — Story of a reaping-machine. 

Laodicea (7). 

Directions for reaching — Journey via Hierapolis — Pictures of Hierapolis — 
Ancient Laodicea — Decline and fall — Present appearance — A personal 
experience — Conclusion . . . . . . . . Pages 358 to 394 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

Smyrna to Cape Matapan. — Retrospect of past four months — Friendly 
acquisitions — "Little Earthquake" — How she got the name— Greek 
Archipelago — Sunrise over Khios — Psara islands — A scene of blood 



CONTENTS. 



xiii 



there in 1824 — Negropont and Andros — Doro Channel — Macro Nisi 
and Zea islands — The Zea Channel — Distant isles — St. Georgio, Belo 
Poulo, and Karavi islands — Capes Malea and Matapan — Night of gloom 
and heat — Lacedaamonia — Argument about Spartan austerity — Noble 
ladies going on the stage — Inconvenient Spartan custom towards 
bachelors — The Peloponnesian Peninsula — Islands of Cervi and Cerigo 
— Last glimpse of Greece — Probable origin of the name " Morea " 

Pages 395 to 405 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

Cape Matapan to Gibraltar. — From calm to storm — Out of the iEgean 
Sea — Broadest part of the Mediterranean — Account in rhyme of 
a formerly encountered storm there— An amiable Scotch lady — 
Malta — Outlying islands of Goza and Comino — Something about 
the Maltese group — Our departure — Cape Bon, Africa — Tunis and. 
Carthage — Volcanic islands of Zembra and Zembretta — The Galita 
group — Coral and sponge fisheries — Octopus-catching — Preference to 
Victor Hugo's 4 Toilers of the Sea ' — Variety of scenery — Profound 
depth of the sea — Coast of Spain — Cape de Gata — Almeria, once a nest 
of pirates — Mountains of Granada — Towns of Balerma and Elena, Adra 
Motril, and Torrox — Malaga and its twinkling lights — Something about 
it — People fond of smuggling — Gibraltar before dawn — Sketchers at 
work — Coaling amidst a gale of wind — Eemarks about " the rock " and 
its history — Our departure .. .. . . Pages 406 to 424 

CHAPTER XXX. 

Gibraltar to Liverpool. — Gibraltar from the bay — Varying opinions as to 
the rock among the passengers — O'Hara's tower — Result of the 
argument — Algeciras — Picturesque situation — The steam ferry — A bit 
of history — Spain and Morocco — Fortress of Ceuta — Apes' Hill — "A 
wilderness of monkeys " — Supposed subterranean passage under the 
strait — Peregil island — Outpost3 of the Motors — Comparison between 
Gibraltar and Ceuta — Cape Spartel, Morocco — In the Atlantic Ocean — 
Trafalgar — Reference to Nelson's great sea-fight — Cadiz — Byron's lines 
on the ladies thereof — Cape St. Vincent — Coast of Portugal — Approach 
to Lisbon — Cintra — Oporto — Vigo Bay, Spain — Cape Finisterre — 
Mount Tremuso— The Camarinas — Cape Villano — Last glimpse of 
Finisterre — Sunset in the Bay of Biscay — Fog and danger — Steam- 
whistle and bell going — Ushant — Scilly islands — Land's End — Cape 
Clear — St. George's Channel — South Stack — Anglesea — The pilot — 
Arrival at Liverpool . . .. .. .. Pages 425 to 443 



Epilogue 



Page 444 



( xiv ) 



LIST OF THE ILLUSTBATIONS. 



Chapters. 


No. 


Subjects. 


Photos. 


Sketches. 


Page. 


I. 


1 


Mouth of the Tagus 




S. 


9 


II. 


2 


G-alita Islands 




S. 


17 




3 


Pantellaria, an Italian Volcanic Island . 




s. 


18 




4 


Maltese Lady in Walking-Attiee 






24 


III. 


5 


Mount Elias, Greece . 




s. 


33 




6 


Cerigo Island, Greece .... 




s. 


34 




7 


Island of Candia, a distant View 




s. 


35 




8 


Hermit's Chapel, Hut, and Grotto, Malea . 




s. 


37 




9 


Island op Karavi 




s. 


38 




10 


Approach to the Greek Island Syra from S.E. 




s. 


40 




11 


Agamemnon's Baths, Bay of Smyrna 




s. 


44 




12 


First Glimpse of Smyrna . . . 




s. 


45 


IV. 


13 
14 


Bock-hewn Statue of Niobe, near Magnesia . 
Encampment of Camels, Plain near Sardis 




s. 
s. 


58 
59 


V. 


15 


Method of pruning the Mulberry during 
four Ye*.rs 




s. 


71 


VI. 


16 


Bock Bas-Belief of Sesostris or Bameses II. 




s. 


79 


vir. 


17 


The Incubator, for hatching Silkworms 




s. 


88 




18 


Knife for shredding Mulberry Leaves 




s. 


90 




19 


Pierced-Paper Silkworm Tray 




s. 


90 




20 


Frame on which Silkworms are fed . 




s. 


93 




21 


"Syrian Silk-Beeler at Work 




s. 


96 
117 


IX. 


22 


Size and Appearance of the Average Silk- 
worm during » • First Eight Days . 




s. 




23 


ditto ditto Second Age . 




s. 


119 




24 


DITTO DITTO THIRD AGE . 




s. 


120 




25 


ditto ditto Fourth Age . 




s. 


122 




26 


ditto ditto Last Age 




s. 


124 




27 


The Silkworm mounting to spin . 




s. 


124 




28 


Arranging Brushwood for spinning Silk- 
worms ....... 




s. 


127 




29 
30 


Male and Female Cocoons strung for Be- 
production ...... 

Female Moth pinned to Cloth for Examina- 
tion 




s. 
s. 


149 
159 


XIII. 


31 


Appearance presented by a Silkworm af- 
flicted with " Pebrine " . 




s. 


180 




32 


Diagram showing highly corpusculous Graine 




S. ' 


180 



LIST OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS. 



xv 



Chapters. 


No. 


Subjects. 


Photos. 


Sketches 


p 

.rage. 




33 


Diagram showing young Corpuscles about to 












develop ....... 




s. 


181 




34 


Segment op a Corpusculous Worm magnified 




s. 


185 




35 


A Silkworm dead of " Flacherie " 




s. 


188 




36 


The Vibriones of " Flacherie " magnified . 




s. 


193 




37 


Ferments from Stomach of Chrysalis with 












"Flacherie" 




s. 


194 




38 


A dissected Chrysalis showing Internal 












Organs ....... 




s. 


195 




39 


u BOTRYTIS BASSIANA," OR SlLKWORM MlLDEW, 












MAGNIFIED . . . 




s. 


197 


XIV. 


40 


Method of counting Corpuscles on the Mi- 












croscope Field . . . 




s. 


205 


XV. 


41 


Village of Koukloudjah by Moonlight 


]' 


s. 


212 


XVI. 


42 


Marble-fronted Houses, Smyrna . 


P. 




226 


XVII. 


43 


Kelchie Kaleh, or Goat's Castle 




s. 


232 




44 


Ayasouluk, near Ephesus .... 




s. 


234 




45 


Windings of the River Meander and Mount 












Cadmus . . . . 




s. 


235 


XVIII. 


46 


Turkish Dragoman and Guard . 




s. 


243 




47 


Hiding forth before Dawn .... 




s. 


244 




48 


Bulgarian Farmer and Boy . . 


P. 




247 




49 


HlERAPOLIS, AS SEEN FROM LAODICEA 




s. 


254 




50 


Greek Copper Brazier for heating Rooms . 




s. 


261 


XIX, 


51 


Picking and shredding Mulberry Leaves 












FOR EARLY FEEDING 




s. 


262 




52 


Female Moths of white and vellow Races 




s. 


266 


XX. 


53 


Entrance to the Dardanelles from Mediter- 












ranean ....... 




s. 


271 




54 


Town of Gallipoli, North-East End of 












Dardanelles ...... 




s. 


274 ' 




55 


Islands of Marmora and Araplar, Sea of 












Marmora ....... 




s. 


275 




56 


The Sea of Marmora and Princes Islands . 


P. 




276 




57 


Bridge of Boats, connecting Stamboul and 












Galata, Constantinople .... 


P. 




277 




58 


Entrance to Golden Horn, as seen from 












Pera, Constantinople . . . 




s. 


278 


XXI. 


59 


Type of the Constantinople Jewish Guide 


P. 




281 




60 


The Hippodrome, St. Sophia, and Obelisk, 












Constantinople. ..... 


P. 




285 




61 


Old Seraglio Enclosure, Skutari in Distance, 












Constantinople ...... 


P. 




289 




62 


Moda Bay, near Skutari, Asiatic Side of 












Bosphorus ....... 




s. 


290 




63 


Mosques illuminated during Ramizan, Con- 












stantinople . . . . . 




s. 


292 


XXIII. 


64 


Imperial Kiosk of White Marble, on the 














P. 




307 




65 


Narrows of Bosphorus, looking towards the 












Black Sea . . . 




s. 


308 




66 


Narrows of Bosphorus, looking towards Con- 












stantinople 




s. 


309 




67 


RUMLI HlSSAR, AN OLD GENOESE CASTLE, 












Bosphorus 


.. | s. 


310 



xvi 



LIST OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Cn&ptGrs. 


0. 


Subjects. 


Photos. 


Ol rn |,X n 

oKeu nes. 


Page. 




68 


T?TTMT.T TTt£5<5 AP A\ T Tl A "KT A TTAT TT TTi~C!«! A P T?AS!PTTAPTT<i 
xijUxjxxjx niii/ Aiini'V'ijU xxioo-viVj uuornviv u o 




a 

S3. 


311 




69 


Tfi'MTP A"Wf!lT! TT* T^T.APTT Sp A AS RPITTC" PPAIVT 












BuYUKDERE BAY, BOSPHORUS 




S. 


312 




70 


f-i-PATTP r rm?trmvr a "NT (T-vp<sth , s! Tttppapta 












T?a<spttaptt<3 


p 




313 


XXIV. 


71 


"Vtt t a r 1 t. 1 nv Titpti'it 1 A n a tpti "Ratttvtptta 

V XlxXjAljrJCj KJE ±JHtUijj A X Oil} AVlJUlViUjljlA • • 




O 


320 




72 


STTTPd TflATlTATn. f-r-r? ATM T V T I T El "Rav AP TlTT 1 1 E 1 












A n A T"PTT 




e 


321 




73 


The Island of Khios, Gulf of Smyrna 




S. 


326 


XXV. 


74 


frRDTIP flT? TiATKrATKm TiPPVTSThPS! PRPPARTTMYl TO 












TWIRL 


p. 




329 


XXVI. 


75 


Ziebec or Turkish Mountaineer 


p. 


*• • 


345 




76 


T'lTRPTSiTT TRRPfi-TTT.AP TTaPPPS 

JL. UXVXVXOX1 X1VIVXLVT L XjxVXV X W IV V/ -Cj Q • • • • 


p 


*• 


346 




77 


A frRTTPP" TtRTnA"NTTi PlAPTATTtf ATCT* TiTPTTTP"Nr AT^T" 

XX \J JXCiiJJA. J_»£VX*JXi.Xl XX VAX XnlXl XxXTl XX JJlLiL iXji , l A^> X 


p 




349 




78 


A Rp rn a "wn "tnt At.pa'ntta'M TTat.tt">av ("jAKT'itmp 

XL X X IVX V r ^\ ^> X) XXl XX.XJXXXi.XlXXi.XTI XX VXIXX/ A X V-/ VXOX L Jl I j ■ 


p 




352 


XXVIII. 


79 


Doro Channel Andros and Negropont Is- 












land 




s. 


399 


XXIX. 


80 


Part of the Grand Harbour, Malta . 




s. 


410 




81 


f^APP. T5a"NT TWIT! Tf. A QT'TTIRTJ' Tf, YTRTTMTTV AP TUT? 

VyAX Xj XXUIS j ill l J XX AOl Xj XV x\ XJA X XVXL J1X X X V X 1 X II n 












Gulf of Tunis . . . 






411 




82 


Almeria Bay, West Side, the Malahacen 












AND BALERMA 




s. 


416 




83 


General View from the Bay of Gibraltar 




s. 


419 


XXX. 


84 


Cape Spartel, North- West Point of Morocco 




s. 


429 




85 


Cape Finisterre 




s. 


435 




86 


Cape Villano, the South-East Extremity of 












the Bay of Biscay 




s. 


436 




87 


The Irish Coast, Cape Clear, and War-Ship 




s. 


440 




88 


The Pilot-Boat off Point Lynus, Anglesea 




s. 


442 



( xvii ) 



PROLOGUE. 



During 1864 to 1867, I had occasion to travel through, and 
be temporarily located in, several parts of China, including 
the tea and silk districts ; and in the course of those years 
had many opportunities of seeing, studying, and inquiring 
into the production and preparation of sundry native articles 
of commerce. Among such, the two which interested me 
most were silk and tea. While thus wandering about in 
various provinces, taking notes for future use, the thought 
frequently and persistently occurred — " Why should not tea- 
and silk-farming be introduced into one or other of Britain's 
semi-tropical colonies, such as the north of New Zealand, 
and be as successfully conducted there, in the form of a 
combined industry to save expense, as the products are 
separately harvested in China ? " With this question ever 
present, I continued my researches from time to time during 
different seasons, until I believed that I had collected suffi- 
cient information on the chief points connected with the 
Chinese methods of management. 

Before leaving China, I began a correspondence with colo- 
nists in New Zealand and Australia on the subject, urged 
to some extent by favourable newspaper reports I had 
seen, and interviews I had had with individuals concern- 
ing districts in both countries, whose climate and general 
advantages proclaimed them suitable for the industries I 
wished to promote. Unfortunately, nothing definite imme- 
diately followed this first effort, although, doubtless, the 
letters I had written, and the oral explanations I had 
given, must have been remembered, and like seed dropped 

I 



xviii 



PROLOGUE. 



at random, germinated afterwards. In the meantime the 
failure had the effect of deciding me to try again in a 
different direction, where a wider field lay open. 

On my return to London in 1867, 1 happened to be thrown 
in the way of some coffee-planters from Brazil and other 
places, and for the first time it struck me that Ceylon might 
be worth a trial. I accordingly called upon the chief busi- 
ness representatives of that beautiful island, urging upon 
them the desirability of adding tea to its other products, 
explaining how the industry was managed in China and 
India, and offering my services to start a model tea-garden 
in any suitable locality. To everything I said respectful 
attention was paid, but not one of the gentlemen addressed 
would consent to make a beginning, and all of them had 
numerous objections to offer. I was told, for example, that 
the Ceylon coffee-planters knew nothing, and cared, if 
possible, less, about tea-farming ; that their estates were 
already fully occupied with coffee ; that labour was too 
expensive to admit of the " fragrant leaf" being grown and 
manipulated to advantage ; that, in short, " the game was 
hardly worth the candle." My arguments thus fell upon 
sceptical or unwilling ears, and no steps of any importance 
were taken for a further period, until the pinch of the 
various coffee-plagues came. Nevertheless, eight years had 
not elapsed ere tea-farming had taken root as a Ceylon 
industry. 

During 1868, I continued my efforts to gain the ear of 
individuals, as well as the attention of the general public, to 
the combined project ; but the period proved unfavourable 
in consequence of the poor success which at that time marked 
the management of some of the Indian tea plantations. 

For fully seventeen years the silk trade of Europe had 
been suffering from the spread of several infectious silkworm 
diseases, and the crisis had now become so acute that on the 
18th February, 1869, the " Silk Supply Association " was 
formed in London, to take measures for the arrest of the evil, 
and to promote silk-farming in every country suited to the 



PROLOGUE. 



xix 



growth of the mulberry. Scarcely had the news of this 
movement reached New Zealand, than the subject of seri- 
culture was taken up with considerable spirit in the colony ; 
the Government published a series of papers connected 
with the industry, dated 1870 ; a trifling bonus was offered 
by way of encouraging experimenters ; a little enthusiasm 
and excitement prevailed for a time, then the whole affair 
seemingly dropped into oblivion. 

From 1868 to 1875, I lost no opportunity of keeping 
kindred matter connected with the claims of tea- and silk- 
farming, prosecuted as a twin-industry, before the public, 
in the columns of the Glasgow Herald, London Scotsman, 
6 Food Journal,' ' Victoria Magazine,' ' British Trade Journal,' 
and other prints. In the last-named periodical I published 
an essay on 1st October, 1875, headed, " Ceylon as a Tea 
Producer," in which the subject was explained, and the 
enterprise and progress of the planters of that island duly 
acknowledged, their having during the previous eight years 
covered 1100 acres of land with tea shrubs. 

On the 1st November following, the same journal printed 
another communication of mine on "Australia as a Silk 
Producer, " in which was shown what had already been done 
there by Mrs. Bladen Neill and others : how sericulture 
was managed in China, and how desirable it was that silk- 
farming should be extended to other British colonies. 

Between 1875 and 1880, I continued to handle the sub- 
ject, and saw with the utmost satisfaction that Ceylon was 
now fairly launched among the tea-producing countries of 
the world, but was disappointed that silk had not as yet 
been added to the list of her products. For a period of 
sixteen years I had lived in the hope of seeing the combined 
industries prosecuted together under the British flag, and 
fancied at one time that Ceylon might take the lead ; I 
was disappointed ; so I turned at length to New Zealand, 
and made a beginning by addressing the Agent-General 
in London on the subject on the 3rd July, 1879. 

My stock of exact information regarding the colony, 



XX 



PROLOGUE. 



although at this period far from complete, was sufficiently 
so to enable me to reopen the matter with some of the 
residents ; and by appeals through the local press to get the 
proposal to start tea- and silk-farming on a scale of some 
magnitude entertained and discussed. Simultaneously, 
with these efforts on my part, the New Zealand Government 
nominated a " Colonial Industries Commission" to inquire 
whether certain trades ought to be promoted or aided by 
the Executive, and to take the proper steps. The Com- 
missioners began their labours in March, and handed in 
their report on the 29th July, 1880. Among the evidence 
given at page 39, by Mr. Kichard Dignan, of Auckland, 
was a quotation from one of my letters, advocating my 
project for that province, and asking if the Government 
were likely to grant any assistance, and if so, in what 
manner. The reply to this question and inquiries from 
other quarters, was a proposal to revive the shabby little 
bonus of 1871, which no one had ever thought of claiming, 
and which is probably still safe in the Treasury. 

On the 30th October, 1880, the first of my com- 
munications, in advocacy of tea- and silk-farming as a 
combined industry for the province of Auckland, appeared 
in New Zealand Public Opinion, Dunedin, inserted by 
John Bathgate, Esq., at that time a judge in the Supreme 
Court, who from the first, and ever since, has taken a keen 
interest in the proposal. This article was followed by 
a second in the same journal, dated 22nd January, 1881. 
Other communications appeared in the course of the 
following year in several of the daily newspapers of both 
the North and Middle Islands, the editors of which, in most 
cases, gave the stamp of their approval to my suggestions, 
by writing able and interesting leaders from time to time 
on the subject. 

While these articles and letters were appearing at the 
Antipodes, another set received the publicity of the Glasgow 
Herald, on the 13th November, 4th, 8th, and 10th December, 
1880, 4th February, 1st March, and 23rd June, 1881, and 



PROLOGUE. 



xxi 



26th December, 1882 ; while a third series gained admission 
into the pages of ' Chambers's Journal,' on the 19th March, 
23rd July, and 20th August, 1881, 14th October, 1882, 
5th May and 10th November, 1883, and 16th August, 1884. 
Essays and letters also appeared during those years in ' The 
Colonies and India,' i The British Trade Journal,' 4 Land and 
Water,' London ; and in ' The North British Agriculturist,' 
Edinburgh. The essays in ' Chambers's Journal ' attracted 
the attention of the Council of " The Society of Arts," 
London ; and towards the end of 1881, 1 was requested by the 
secretary to prepare a paper on the subject, which I did. 
On the 31st January, 1882, I read this essay, entitled, " On 
the Physical and Social Capabilities of New Zealand for Tea 
and Silk Culture," before the members of the Society. It was 
favourably received, and was printed in the Society's journal 
of the 3rd February, 1882. 

Later in the course of the same year, the " Highland and 
Agricultural Society of Scotland " awarded a premium to 
the writer for a treatise contributed to their volume of Trans- 
actions, No. XI V., entitled, " Tea and Silk Farming in New 
Zealand." 

On the 19th July, 1882, a question was asked in the New 
Zealand House of Representatives relative to my communi- 
cations to the Government, and proposals, by the gentleman 
already mentioned, Mr. John Bathgate, member for the 
Boslyn district of Otago. The answer was unsatisfactory ; 
nevertheless, my previous correspondence, through the Agent- 
General in London, had evidently not been thrown away, 
nor Mr. Bathgate's query uttered in vain, as, when he 
returned to the attack on the 21st August, 1883, he elicited 
the information that encouragement had meanwhile been 
locally given to a practical gentleman, who had " succeeded 
in raising silkworms and obtaining silk from them, excellent 
samples of which had been shown at the Christchurch 
Exhibition." This gentleman, Mr. G. B. Federli, a native of 
Italy, but in the service of the Government at the time, 
continued his labours afterwards with success ; and under the 



xxii 



PROLOGUE. 



authority of the Executive, in 1883, published a little 
pamphlet on " Silkworm Bearing " for the instruction of the 
colonists. 

It is true that the Colonial Government by their offer of 
a bonus, by the employment of Mr. Federli to inaugurate 
the silk industry, and by afterwards sending him on a tour 
of inspection over the islands, did something to bring seri- 
culture into favour. Unfortunately, they left out tea-farming 
— a most important item — from their programme. This 
omission could scarcely have occurred through ignorance 
on the part of the officials, because at page 42 of the report 
by the Industries Commission (1880), Mr. Thomas Kirk, a 
scientific local agriculturist, in his evidence, dated 8th June, 
1880, stated — "There can be no question that the Assam 
variety of tea can be grown very well in the North Island." 
This assertion has been borne out at various times and 
places there, by private experimenters on a small scale ; but 
for some reason, as yet unknown, it seems as if the Govern- 
ment had become prejudiced against the introduction of 
tea-farming, and determined to give it no encouragement. 
The general objection put forward against it (seemingly 
borrowed from the Ceylon planters of 1867) was the great 
cost of labour in the colony ; but those who used this 
fallacious argument seem to have forgotten that the draw T - 
back in question was equally applicable to silk-farming and 
every other calling followed in New Zealand. In this 
connection it was repeatedly explained, in communications 
to the Government and through the newspaper press, that 
the supposed difficulty could be met and conquered by 
the close union of the two industries, conducted scientifically 
on the same farm and under one management. 

So far, therefore, the New Zealand Executive cannot be 
said to have earned much gratitude for their treatment of 
the proposal. On the other hand, 1 in every case where I 
approached the editors of home or colonial newspapers and 
magazines personally or by letter, the subject found im- 
mediate sympathy, and their columns were opened to 



PROLOGUE. 



xxiii 



articles and general discussion of the project. Thus, from 
first to last, the proposal to establish tea- and silk-farming 
as a combined industry in the north of New Zealand, must 
have already been made familiar to millions of people in 
both hemispheres. Indeed, the question has frequently of 
late been asked from the Antipodes and elsewhere — " When 
is the industry to be commenced ? " To such a query it can 
only be replied, that the New Zealand Government stops the 
way. The continued absence of a definite policy on their 
part, of either liberal assistance or cold neutrality, has pre- 
vented home capitalists from engaging in the enterprise. 
The colonists are favourable; the Maoris of Auckland are 
eager to have the twin-industries established in their midst, 
and to help with land, capital, and service ; numbers of 
Europeans and others have caught the enthusiasm ; and, 
doubtless, capital in plenty from the Old Country will be 
forthcoming whenever the Colonial Government awakes 
to a sense of duty, and to a thorough perception of the 
importance of the scheme. 

It is but fair that the action of another adverse element 
should be alluded to, as having possibly interfered, to some 
extent, with the more rapid development of the proposal. 
Something has been owing to the uncertainty prevailing 
in the minds of investors, regarding the likelihood of im- 
munity, or otherwise, in the future of the silk enterprise 
from the effects of the maladies which, for the past thirty- 
five or forty years, decimated the silkworms of Europe, and 
are at present rapidly destroying those of China. For some 
years it had been known, among a limited circle, that 
M. Pasteur, of Paris, had thoroughly scrutinized those 
diseases, and had found a remedy ; but the circumstances 
and the commercial results had not transpired among the 
general public. In a case of such importance I felt that 
the testimony of an eye-witness might prove valuable. 
Accordingly, having discovered in my friend, Mr. John 
Griffitt, of Bournabat, near Smyrna, a silk-farmer of more 
than thirty years' experience in Asia Minor, and an ardent 



xxiv 



PROLOGUE. 



disciple of Pasteur, I determined to pass through a silk 
season by his side on his own premises, so as to be in a 
position to judge for myself, whether or not the dreaded 
maladies had been brought under human control. Mr. 
Griffitt's experiences and my own observations are now 
given in Chapters IV. to VII., IX., XIII., XIV., and XIX. 

The substance of one chapter originally appeared in 
the form of a report by the author, in the 6 Journal of 
the Society of Arts,' London, of the 19th June; eleven 
chapters were contributed to the Glasgow Herald, and 
found places in its columns between the 25th July and 12th 
September ; the bulk of three chapters was printed in the 
' British Trade Journal,' London, on the 1st May, 1st July, 
and 1st November, L885 ; Chapter XXVII. occupied space 
in the three issues of The Stirling Observer, of 8th April, 
19th and 26th August, 1886 ; while the remainder is now 
published for the first time. 

Kegarding the illustrations, it may be added that sixty- 
four of them have been engraved from a selection of the 
author's sketches ; sixteen were executed from photographs 
by Messrs. Sebah, of Constantinople, Kubellin and Zil- 
poche, of Smyrna, and Agius, of Malta ; while a few 
were derived from a work, published in Smyrna in 1868, 
by M. Jean A. Topuz, entitled, 1 Education des Vers 
a Soie.' 

Without further preface, then, I would ask the reader's 
kind indulgence towards any shortcomings met with 
in the text. The work has been produced, among other 
objects, with a philanthropic aim, and if in any measure 
successful in this direction, there will be much cause 
for gratification. Far-reaching national results must 
follow any prosperous attempt to establish the harvesting 
of such extensively consumed articles of commerce as tea 
and silk in any of our possessions or colonies, where the 
surplus labour of the Old Country can be profitably 
employed. 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR 

OR, 

NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



CHAPTER I. 

LIVERPOOL TO GIBRALTAR. 



Whether the reader be a professional man, a manufacturer, 
or a trader, there is likely to arrive a period in his life 
when a change of climate and scene, however brief, will be 
required for the resuscitation of his jaded faculties; and 
probably no such change could be more complete and 
beneficial in every respect than a trip in a Cunard steamer 
along the Mediterranean. Accordingly, for the benefit 
partly of all hard workers, the following notes of the writer's 
experience during a recent voyage to, and a short residence 
in, Turkey have been penned. I refrain from naming any 
particular season of the year for such a trip as being either 
the best or one to be avoided. The time of each one's going 
must clearly depend on personal convenience as much as on 
other considerations. In my own case the date was fixed 
without regard to temperature, serene skies, or a placid 
ocean ; I required to reach one of the Levantine ports before 
the end of March, 1885, so the cold of a boisterous February, 
and the swell of the tumbling Atlantic had to be faced as 
best I could, in the hope that the union of a search after 
health, and the prosecution of some important inquiries 
might not prove incompatible. 



2 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



There are at present two routes over the Mediterranean 
by the Cunarcl line open to travellers — one by that com- 
pany's Italian, Sicilian, and Adriatic steamers, and the 
other by their Levant ships. The first class fare out and 
home by either way is £40, and the time usually consumed 
on the round voyage, including stoppages, about two months. 
It is to the Levant tour that the following remarks apply. 

I had arranged for a passage by the good old Clyde-built 
steamer * " Sidon," of 1200 tons measurement, 212 horse- 
power, commanded by Captain Fenwick, and joined the 
vessel in Alexandra Dock, Liverpool, during a dismal night 
in February. There are advantages gained by passing on 
board one's temporary marine home the night before sailing, 
avoiding, as such a course does, the hurry-scurry of the 
morning. There is time to correct any trifling error which 
may have occurred ; to replace any small forgotten article 
necessary for comfort during the voyage ; and to acquire a 
feeling of possession and tenancy in regard to one's berth. 
But there are at the same time serious drawbacks in the noise 
and dirt inseparable from getting in the remaining cargo, 
and the tiresome vibration of steam winches, clanking chains, 
and violently oscillating heavy packages all through the 
small hours, Nevertheless, such disagreeables evidently 
had exercised no deterrent effect on the ship's complement 
of tourists as it was announced about ten o'clock that, all the 
passengers, twelve in number, being on board, the steamer 
would put to sea the following morning promptly at eight. 

With daylight came the hurried bustle and commotion 
which heralds the departure of a sea-going vessel. Friends 
of passengers came rushing on board, and other persons 
went scrambling ashore. A band of active stewards 
shouldered along the gangway a large supply of dressed 
sheep, sides of bacon, and quarters of beef, which fresh 
provision against hunger was carefully hung up under one 

* The " Sidon " was afterwards wrecked on a ledge of rocks about 200 
yards from the Spanish coast, near Malpiqua, on the night of the 27th 
October, 1885, when some loss of life occurred. 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT 



3 



of the boats and surrounded with a canvas screen. Of live- 
stock an ample quantity had already been placed in con- 
venient nooks in the fore-part of the ship, so that during 
the voyage, at least as far as Malta, the first port of call, 
there seemed no risk of starvation. 

Sharp to the minute, as the Liverpool clocks chimed the 
hour of eight, the " Sidon " moved slowly away from the 
quay wall under the persuasive pull of a tug-boat ; and was 
followed out of the harbour by the great Atlantic liner 
" Oregon," * also outward bound. Behind, in the dock, re- 
mained the equally magnificent steamers " Servia " and " Ce- 
phalonia," loading ; and it was when leaving those mighty 
triumphs of marine architecture a little way in rear that their 
vast bulk came to be properly appreciated, as the difference 
between steamers of 1200 tons and 5000 tons becomes very 
evident when they are seen separated by only a short 
stretch of still water. In about half-an-hour the "Sidon" 
was fairly clear of the docks, and sailed slowly along the 
Mersey towards the light-ships which, on account of the 
mist hanging over the river, were engaged emitting doleful 
strains from their steam syrens and fog-horns. There was 
little opportunity, however, allowed for listening to the 
depressing blasts, as the more musical and welcome break- 
fast bell quickly produced all the passengers at table in the 
saloon, who, along with the officers not on duty, formed a 
bright aud joyous-looking party of sixteen. The fare 
proved good and abundant, the cooking unexceptionable, 
the service active, and all the accessories cleanly and 
agreeable, so that the voyage commenced under favourable 
conditions. My fellow-passengers seemed made of the 
right material for travellers, as there appeared to be among 
them from the beginning a disposition to be mutually 

* On the 14th March, 1886, this vessel, the "greyhound of the 
Atlantic," was run into by a coal-laden schooner, which sunk immediately, 
near Fire Island, New York. The " Oregon " kept afloat for nine hours, 
and all the passengers were rescued and taken on board other ships, 
particularly the German steamer " Fulda " from Bremen. 

B 2 



4 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



agreeable. There were two young English ladies, returning 
from a holiday visit to their home in Malta ; and an Irish 
lady, desirous of seeing a little of the ancient world ; an 
old clergyman and his secretary from one of the inland 
counties, taking their annual holiday ; two young legal 
gentlemen from Liverpool, going on the same errand ; two 
gentlemen of business from Nottingham, in search of health 
after years of harassing labour ; a retired Northumberland 
squire, on the hunt for novelty ; and an Oxford student, 
bent on probing the antiquarian secrets of the Greek 
Archipelago. 

The meal of the morning having been unavoidably 
delayed, on account of the vessel's departure at eight 
o'clock, and most heartily partaken of when offered, no one 
seemed to anticipate any very elaborate preparation for 
lunch. Nevertheless a hot refreshment, consisting of soup, 
joint, vegetables, celery, and cheese, was provided at one, 
to which all did justice ; for, as one of the passengers 
whispered to the Northumberland squire: — 

" For, air and exercise, each person knows, 

To the consumption of refreshments tend ; 
And thirst, aud appetite are mortal foes, 

Which equally all human vitals rend. 
What soothes like lunch ? Who doctors like the seas ? 
And who prescribes like a stiff Channel breeze ? " 

Under such circumstances the reunion was one of unadul- 
terated enjoyment, as mal de mer, the dreaded of landsmen, 
had not yet interfered. Indeed, although the morning 
ripples had now developed into waves, no change, even 
when passing the Skerry rocks off Holyhead, was visible 
in any one's appearance or demeanour. The kindly joke, 
the responsive smile, and the contagious laugh prevailed ; 
but rude Boreas was only biding his opportunity, for an 
ominous heave was fast spreading over the face of the deep, 
and the hitherto steady and well-regulated vessel began to 
indulge in gyrations which might have been excusable in a 
Glasgow harbour ferry-boat, or in a Thames penny steamer, 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



5 



but which we all felt and pronounced wholly unnecessary 
and out of place in a twelve-hundred ton ^Mediterranean 
ship. Seemingly, by universal consent, the conversation 
turned upon the various plans recommended for the forti- 
fication of the human viscera against the siege of [Neptune. 
But all too speedily it was acknowledged that the nostrums 
suggested were little better than feeble quackery, and that 
the callous and unappeasable old sea-god would presently 
demand and receive his tribute. Hitherto on deck most of 
the gentlemen had tried the solace of the fragrant weed in 
one or other of its forms, and a few, with grave, lengthened, 
and somewhat greenish visages, were even yet blowing 
clouds of perfumed vapour into the air. But gradually 
newly-lighted cigars were one by one stealthily dropped 
overboard, and pipes of gorgeous hue, massive with the 
precious metals, were recklessly laid down, and regardlessly 
left to take care of themselves on the wings of the wheel- 
house, while the owners stood or sauntered about, making 
believe to be in search of oxygen. In the midst of this 
preternatural solemnity and growing desire for the con- 
sumption of one of the constituents of the atmosphere, the 
dinner bell rang, but I observed none of the alacrity of the 
morning to place limbs underneath the steamer's mahogany ; 
and when at length we lords of creation got seated at the 
well-spread board, certain gaps and vacancies betrayed the 
fact that some of our fair passengers had already succumbed. 
Under such blighting influences the principal meal of the 
day became a hollow mockery, or rather, the last three 
words quickly became descriptively applicable to most of 
those who had recently sat down. Before the second course 
had been removed, one after another of the doleful voyagers 
retreated precipitately from the saloon, and presently only 
four tough veterans were left cracking walnuts with their 
port, and doubtless crowing over the weakness and degen- 
eracy of their fellow-passengers. The hour was still early 
but all festivity was at an end. Private cabins were rapidly 
occupied by persons far removed from feelings of happiness 



6 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



dismal gurglings and wailing apostrophies to the ocean ever 
and anon broke upon the ear ; presently even these dejected 
tones ceased, and the only disturbance of the intense hush 
which followed was the steady pounding of the propeller 
and the lullaby of the chasing waves. 

It by no means follows that, because one may have retired 
to rest the previous evening in an unhinged state of body, 
the comfort of balmy sleep cannot be enjoyed. On the 
contrary, I can truly aver for myself and others that our 
first night on the ocean on this occasion was marked by 
refreshing slumber, which might have continued longer, 
certainly, but for the uproar of the elements and the respon- 
sive movements of our baggage. Judging from what passed 
before my own eyes, and from what I heard in the adjoining 
cabins, I may say without exaggeration that the passengers' 
effects seemed instinct with life, and with an unquenchable 
thirst for gymnastic performances. Portmanteaux, bags, 
hat-boxes, writing-desks, and packages of tin appeared to 
be pursuing each other in every direction, and to be coming 
into frequent collision with their several proprietors. The 
expression of sudden spasms of pain, usually represented in 
print by the letter " 0," rang frequently out into the keen 
morning air, as some one's tender corn suffered from contact 
with a madly-careering box, or some one else's head got 
bumped against the walls of his violently-oscillating state- 
room. In my own case, while crawling out feebly and 
regardlessly from a lower bunk, I received on my unpro- 
tected pate sundry sharp-cornered packages shot suddenly 
from the berth above, where they had been placed for 
security. During this racket and general suffering, it was 
a rallying point of hope to know that there were those in 
the steamer upon whose health and equanimity the winds, 
waves, and demented baggage impinged in vain. The 
active and cheerful little steward attached to the block of 
cabins in which I and others now lay wrestling with the 
common enemy, was unremitting in his attention. He con- 
tinually visited his gasping, grumbling, unreasonable, 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



7 



nauseating charges, politely inquiring at last who wished 
breakfast to be brought to his bedside, as the meal was 
nearly ready. 

" There are eggs done in five different ways, sir," said 
John to the groaning rhymster, who, in the midst of his 
misery, was nevertheless lugubriously gingling a few stanzas 
together. 

" There is also fat Wiltshire bacon, sir ; lean ham, Irish 
stew, kidneys, Singapore curry and rice, pork sausages, 
steak and onions, and " 

Here the kindly steward was interrupted by a series of 
hollow, partially-stifled noises, and the apostrophe — 

" Oh! Steward, take yourself away 

And leave me in my plight, 
Your bill-of-fare, some other day 

May tempt my appetite. 
This basin is my only friend 

When down with mal de mer ; 
To some one else, then, John attend, 

Go ! Take yourself elsewhere ! " 

One after another we followed the poet's example in 
declining any portion or specimen of the varied repast, and as, 
from this hour onwards during the day, the wind and waves 
seemed to increase, neither lunch nor dinner found many 
consumers. Indeed, our arrival off the Scilly Islands, 
bringing the ship, as it did, into contact with the undiluted 
majesty of the Atlantic rollers tumbling into the English 
Channel, completed if possible our condition of abject 
debasement, and confirmed the Northumberland squire in 
his belief and assertion that the song commencing with the 
words, " A life on the ocean wave, a home on the rolling 
deep," was the sentiment of an enthusiast, and must have 
been written by a maniac. 

It is, I fancy, characteristic of fallen human nature to 
feel a degree of relief, and be soothed by knowing that no 
one is altogether solitary in his or her sufferings. Let the 
victim of sea-sickness, for example, be told and got to 
believe that others in the same ship are enduring similar 



8 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



or worse pangs, and the probability is, that the patient thus 
appealed to will speedily recover, as I did, and begin 
immediately to climb the ladder of convalescence. Having 
been among the first to strike my colours, and abandon 
my substance to swaggering Neptune, I was one of the 
earliest to dispute his power, and spurn his slavery; yet 
although I did not recover my usual robustness of appetite, 
any more than my fellow- voyagers, for a day or two, we all, 
with one exception, got speedily well, and admitted after- 
wards that our late wretchedness had not been endured in 
vain. The exceptional case was that of the clergyman on 
board, who, strange to say, had not been sick at all, but 
had unfortunately fractured the ulna of his left arm when 
the tempest was at its height. 

Meanwhile, the horrible Bay of Biscay, the terror of 
every landsman, had been crossed ; the normal greenish hue 
of some of our faces had changed into a more healthy-look- 
ing and agreeable pink ; and the pleasant sight of the 
Berlingas Islands, also known as the Burling rocks, about ten 
miles off — mere rugged crags though they are — seemed to 
infuse fresh life into all of us. Measured from Ushant on 
the west, to Cape Villano on the east, the sail across this 
usually turbulent sheet of water is about 375 nautical miles, 
so that the victim to sea-sickness may safely make up his 
mind beforehand, should the waves be boisterous, to endure 
a purgatory of at least thirty-six hours' duration. 

While engaged on the fifth day in the saloon writing, 
and overhauling my stock of sketching materials, a bearded 
form of most kindly demeanour, one of my fellow- 
passengers, whispered through the open window (the 
temperature having risen to 60 degrees), " come and see 
Lisbon." It was the hasty and pardonable mistake of one 
not addicted to much or recent geographical study ; but I 
instantly went on deck, and enjoyed a charming view of a 
long and picturesque stretch of the Portuguese coast termi 
nating in the bold mountain mass of Cape Rocca. In the 
distance, nestling in a pleasant valley, a vast building was 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



9 



pointed out by the officers of the ship as being the recently 
repaired palace of King Ferdinand. On the face of a 
sloping vine, olive, and cork-clad hill appeared the beauti- 
fully-situated town of Cintra, about fifteen miles north-west 
of Lisbon, with attractive suburbs, strange Moorish architec- 
ture, the ruins of a Moorish castle, and a convent, the cells 
of which, being carved out of the solid rock, are lined with 
slabs of cork-bark to absorb the damp and render them 
habitable. 

The scene comprised at once a lovely and refreshing 
glimpse of mother earth and human handiwork, to be 
regretted only on account of the shortness of its duration. 




Fig. 1. — Mouth of the Tagus. 



Scanning for a time that fair landscape from the deck of 
the steamer felt like touching without permission to taste, 
or momentarily enjoying and the next instant torn away ; 
as a land mist crept rapidly over the whole, which speedily 
developed into rain, and ere twenty minutes had fled 
Portugal and Cintra had disappeared from view. For a few 
minutes only, the mouth of the Tagus (Fig. 1) and its protect- 
ing fortress were unveiled sufficiently to be seen and hurriedly 
transferred to our sketch-books, but during the remainder 
of the day the ship might well have been in the middle of 
the ocean, as nothing but mist and waves were visible. 

Nor was a praiseworthy effort to see the historic Cape 
St. Vincent next morning attended with even a modest 



10 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



measure of success. The steamer was timed to pass the 
great headland about 3 . 30, yet, after awaking and visiting 
the sloppy deck at that preposterous hour by the light of 
the dimmest and dreariest of watery moons, I, and one or 
two others, gained nothing for our sacrifice of comfort 
except witnessing a dense, black volume of smoke issuing 
from the funnel, towards the glowing yellow eye of the 
lighthouse at the base of the Cape, and fancying we saw a 
resemblance between the rolling cloud of carbon and the 
body of the genii wriggling out of the iron casket landed 
by the Arabian fisherman after the seal of Solomon had 
been broken, as related in a well-known Eastern tale. 
Again, I made another attempt to penetrate the fog when 
the vessel was only five miles distant from the shore, but 
neither the precipice nor the vast fortified monastery on the 
summit could be seen. 

The day had thus commenced in disappointment, yet that 
feeling was quickly superseded by the sunny magnificence 
which followed. Under such genial influence even our 
remaining bilious passenger, who, not possessed of the 
happy resources of the rhymster to sustain him, had done 
little else all the way over the Bay of Biscay and since, 
except emit lugubrious sighs, suddenly pulled himself 
together ; seemed to renew his youth ; tried and succeeded 
in looking blithesome ; and commenced to enter freely into 
the pursuits of the hour. Some of this joyous transforma- 
tion was doubtless attributable to a sight of land presently 
obtained, followed by distant views of the grand rugged 
mountains of Spain. Towards the afternoon the African 
coast also became apparent, intimating plainly that the 
Strait of Gibraltar was not far off, and as the short twilight 
deepened into night the lights on both headlands — Tanger 
on the African, and Spartel and Tarifa on the European 
sides — glimmered through the darkness. These objects of 
interest, the healthful breeze, the pleasant motion of the 
steamer, and the evident determination on the part of all 
to be pleased with everything and every one, contributed to 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



11 



the complete restoration of the recently suffering. Probably, 
however, the most marked symptom of recovery had been 
evinced earlier during the day in the marvellous development 
in all directions of intense literary activity. Books and 
pencils began to emerge from hitherto unsuspected pockets, 
and the throes of composition to begin. At first there was 
a certain bashfulness visible when the soft impeachment 
was brought against a lady, of starting a log ; but one of the 
gentlemen boldly demolished the farce by producing an 
imposing volume from his waistcoat pocket, and another 
followed his example with a tiny tome like a family bible, 
both fearlessly announcing that they were about to keep 
diaries. Their brilliant courage proved infectious, hypo- 
crisy was banished, and presently in every corner of the 
saloon and in quiet nooks of the upper deck genius was at 
work. 

The calm beauty of the morning and splendour of the 
afternoon had now been superseded by a boisterous night, 
and as the good ship screwed her way resolutely between 
the " Pillars of Hercules " she was confronted by a tempest, 
which seemed only a little less potent than the tremendous 
current which rapidly bore us into the Mediterranean. 
Curiously enough, the conflicting forces thus arrayed against 
one another in the Strait of Gibraltar, proved but the 
harbingers of another struggle about to occur at the dinner 
table. All the passengers, including the maimed clergy- 
man with his arm in a sling, were present; and as conver- 
sation became brisk and lively over some debatable subject 
introduced, it quickly became evident that we were not all 
politically of the same mind. One of the officers said some- 
thing in praise of Mr. Gladstone's surpassing genius, and 
how immeasurably he towers above the lesser Salisburies, 
Xorthcotes, Cairns', and other representative statesmen of 
the period. This tribute to the Premier acted like a spark 
to tow, or a red rag held before the eyes of a bull ; it 
particularly aroused the ire of the old priest, who immedi- 
ately opened the batteries of his hot indignation, condemn- 



12 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



ing the "Grand Old Man," his colleagues, his government, 
and everything he and they had ever done. Happening to 
be near the speaker, the reverend gentleman at length 
turned to me to support his position. I said that I 
thoroughly believed in Mr. Gladstone, and gave on the 
spur of the moment a short catalogue of some of the good 
measures he had been mainly instrumental in achieving for 
the benefit of his own and other countries. Of the latter, I 
instanced his restoration of the Ionian Islands to Greece, 
thus attaching the Hellenians to Great Britain by the 
strongest bond which could link two nations together. I 
further remarked that in my humble opinion the Premier 
required no champion ; he was an army in himself as all 
Tories very well know ; but that if he ever needed aid there 
were three millions of Scotsmen, all Wales, and a large 
majority of the rest of the world at his back. The discus- 
sion now expanded its area until all at the saloon table 
joined in, some on one side, some on the other. Voices 
were raised ; eyes flashed political fire ; hands were clenched ; 
the storm raged without, and a tempest of tongues raged 
even more furiously within, until tired nature and the 
weakness of recent convalescence prevailed, when the com- 
batants after a time, through sheer exhaustion, dropped off 
to bed. 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



13 



CHAPTEK II. 

GIBRALTAR TO MALTA. 

Our seventh morning at sea commenced with a brilliant 
sunrise, which would have done credit to the volcanic period 
of some three years ago, when the sunsets all over the world 
were for a few weeks of unrivalled splendour. Such tints, 
such an atmosphere of purity, such exhilarating feelings of 
intense, unfettered life and capability for enjoyment, that 
every one seemed to dance as he or she moved, and every 
countenance wore an expression of beatitude. If anything, 
the literary fever increased with the experience of enhanced 
powers of narration ; so much so that the men who had set 
the example of beginning diaries were occasionally heard to 
regret that they had not provided themselves each with 
many duplicate volumes. 

A few of us had clustered near the wheel-house, and were 
wrapt in admiration of the sky, when the rhymster came 
forth from his cabin. We fully expected a thrilling burst 
of song from him as the glorious orb of day began to dart 
his golden lightning into every part of the heavens. He 
scrambled up the little cork-screw steps, however, and 
simply hummed as he approached to shake hands — 

" And many a monkish foot 

Has mounted those well-worn stairs, 
To the dirge of the owlet's hoot 
And other nocturnal airs " 

But evidently feeling that his impromptu was hardly 
appropriate to the occasion and surroundings, he added — 



14 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



" And many a jolly tar 

Has swaggered here, I've no doubt, 
And. many a passenger 

Has been turned inside out. 
And many a sickly one 

Has ta'en a fresh lease of life, 
Exposed to this glorious sun, 

And gone straight home for a wife." 

" Yet, give me the breezy field, 

The river, the lake, the crag ; 
Where gun and rod I may wield 

Aye sure of a bulky bag ; 
Where my fingers I can snap 

At Neptune, and all his frowns ; 
Where for wind I care not a rap, 

On my native, heath-clad downs ! " 

As the rhymster finished, he, in an unguarded moment, 
confided to the bluff old quarter-master, who was standing 
near and heard the stanzas, that his object in appearing so 
early on deck was not so much to witness the beauty of the 
dawn as to catch a glimpse of Gibraltar, which none of us 
had seen on account of the darkness and mist of the previous 
night. The ancient mariner was equal to the occasion, and 
transfixed his interlocutor with a look of concentrated pity, 
which only an old salt can assume towards the unwary 
landsman who has committed himself. 

"Considerm'," old Wiggins said, " considerin' we was eighty 
mile an' more from the Gib' (this was the flippant syllable, 
gentle reader, the antiquated son of the sea used in naming 
Great Britain's grandest rock-fortress), " he rayther thought 
the gen'leman 'd look long enough before he seed it." 

At this moment the quarter-master was called to the 
bridge, and we loungers by the wheel-house observed that 
the African coast, which had been visible for a time, was 
now fading out of the horizon, while the Spanish side of the 
Mediterranean was again coming into view, and when the 
imposing line of Almeira Mountains (Fig. 82) in Granada was 
reached, the lovers of Alpine scenery on board acknowledged 
the richness of the treat which in every one's opinion might 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



15 



perhaps be equalled but scarcely surpassed. From the deck 
of the steamer, after a short interval, the highest peak, the 
Malahacen, a majestic cone of 12,000 feet, and the sister 
pinnacle named Peccacho Voleta, not much inferior in 
altitude, became so admirably distinct that they and their 
snows were without difficulty transferred to our sketch- 
books. The Sierra Nevada range, in which these grim 
giants form the culminating points, is a ragged, uncouth- 
looking mass of comparatively naked rocks, seemingly 
jostled together in the most picturesque confusion. After 
gazing for hours upon this grand evidence of the forces of 
nature exercised at some remote period of the world's history, 
it felt an inexpressible relief to the eye to rest for a moment 
on the little town of Malaga, nestling apparently at the 
base of those stupendous crags. The city of raisins is a 
long way from Malahacen's giddy precipices, but viewed 
from the sea at a distance of some leagues, the mountain 
and town seem almost contiguous. 

After Cape Grata had been passed the remainder of the 
day was spent in edging towards the African shore, where, 
as the shadows deepened, the lights of Oran, a thriving 
municipal town and sea-port of Algeria, appeared. 

This prettily-situated, walled, and fortified place, was built 
by the Moors, and formed part of the Kingdom of Fez. It 
was seized by Spain in 1509, by Turkey in 1708, and again 
by Spain in 1732. In 1791 it was so injured by an earth- 
quake that it was abandoned by the Spaniards, when it fell 
into French hands, and is now incorporated in Algeria. The 
chief trade done is in grain, cotton, tobacco, and wine. 

Still later in the evening the wind rose to almost a gale, 
yet, although the ship pitched and rolled about nearly as 
much as in the Bay of Biscay, no further sickness occurred, 
and Neptune, this time, was disappointed of his tribute. 

Words are wholly inadequate to depict the dawn of our 
eighth morning on the sea. It was one of superlative splen- 
dour in a region where nearly every sunrise is entrancing. 

The glow and play of colour upon the thin, fleecy clouds, 



16 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



the limitless expanses of golden yellow merging into vast 
oceans of gorgeous orange, and these fringed and crossed 
diagonally by streamers of crimson lake, vermilion, and 
pale green, all ultimately losing themselves and becoming 
absorbed in the intense blue of space, presented a moment- 
arily changing study fit for the greatest painter to spend a 
lifetime over, yet one to which no artist, however eminent, 
could do even the scantiest justice. The steamer had now 
crossed the meridian of Greenwich, consequently the clocks 
and watches on board were put forward about quarter of an 
hour. During the morning, the long, rugged heights of 
Algeria came well into view, and Tenez, Port Shurshall, 
Ras-el-Amish, and the town of Algiers presented themselves 
to the eager scrutiny of the passengers. Presently the 
grand mountain mass of Muzaia, 5125 feet in height and 
reminding one strongly of our own Scottish Ben Nevis, 
attracted every telescope. It towers in a district rendered 
interesting from the legend that it was from thence Saint 
Augustine set forth upon his mission of evangelisation. The 
sumptuous morning colours, the advance in time, and our 
proximity to burning Africa, all admonished us to throw off 
the winter clothing of the dismal climate we had recently 
left, as we were entering a zone of extra warmth ; warnings 
which were confirmed practically in less than an hour, by 
the steamer passing through what was graphically pro- 
nounced by the Captain to be " the tail end of a sirocco." 
At first the feeling was simply that of heat ; then came a 
sense of oppression followed by the bursting out of copious 
perspiration from every pore ; and finally a sense of over- 
powering lassitude which interfered with all exertion either 
mental or physical, lasting during the remainder of the day. 
But no one seemed any the worse ; indeed this day's par- 
boiling appeared to complete the cure from biliousness and 
headache which the rough treatment in the Bay of Biscay 
began. 

A respect for the proper observance of Sabbath is whole- 
some and to be commended everywhere, and in no situation 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



17 



is the feeling more desirable than on board ship at sea. 
On the present occasion it formed a source of gratifica- 
tion to all the passengers to find, that the evening of this 
hot Saturday was devoted to making preparations for the 
steamer's arrival at Malta on Monday morning, so as to leave 
the intervening day of rest free. Chains, winches, shears, 
and booms were rigged up and arranged for the discharge 
and reception of cargo ; and there was an air of hearty 
willingness on the part of the crew as they pushed through 
their extra work, which showed that they quite appreciated 
the object to be gained. 




Gallo. Galita. Mount Guardia. Gallina. Galitona. Aguglia. 

Fig. 2.— Galita Islands. 



Earlier during the day, the officers had ventured upon a 
prediction, that before night the passengers would be near 
enough to the Gulf of Tunis for the site of ancient Carthage 
to be seen ; but, like many another human prophecy, it was 
not fulfilled. Meanwhile Cape Ferro had been passed, a 
picturesque, rugged, irregular stretch of volcanic crags as 
unyielding looking as iron — hence probably its name — 
terminating in an egg-shaped cone distant from the mainland 
about twenty-five miles. After the mid-day observations 
were taken, the steamer reached the curious group of rocks 
known by the general name of the Galita Islands (Fig. 2). 
The principal one is twenty-seven miles north of Cape Negro, 

C 



18 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



belongs to Italy, seems to be almost devoid of vegetation, and 
has no harbour ; but it supports one Arab family, who subsist 
upon the produce of their goats and fishing. The other 
islands of the cluster are G-allo, Pollastro, Gallina, Galitona, 
and Aguglia, all situated near each other and lying off the 
western boundary of Tunis. Those islands are in themselves 
interesting and picturesque objects, and well worthy a place 
in the sketch-book, particularly when seen under the ruby 
glow of the setting sun.* 

The steamer had now reached the specially volcanic 
region of the Mediterranean, and the climate and temperature 




Fig. 3. — Pantf.lla.ri a (Italian Volcanic Islakd), S.W. of Sicilt. 

proved exquisite. Pantellaria (Fig. 3), one of the loveliest 
islands in this charming inland sea, had been in sight from 
an early hour of Sabbath morning when fully forty-five 
miles distant. At a later hour the ship had crept up to 
within three miles of the shores, so that with glasses the 
details could be seen. It is an irregular, oval mass, with 
gently rounded and sometimes steep, vine-covered slopes 

* Since the above observations were made, the captain of the steamer 
" Ardangorm " reported, that on the afternoon of the 30tb August, 1886, in 
clear calm weather, when about fourteen miles distant from Mount 
Guardia, he saw tins supposed extinct volcano in eruption, with smobe 
being ejected at intervals from the crater. (See Fig. 2.) 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



19 



tending in various directions, with most of the available 
surface under cultivation. From the nearest point of 
Girgenti in Sicily, in which its acreage is included, it 
is distant sixty miles ; it measures about thirty-six miles 
in circumference ; and the higher of its twin pinnacles 
rises to the height of 2730 feet. At the north-western 
extremity is the little Italian town of Oppidolo, having a 
small port and lighthouse defended by a castle and batteries. 
Like most Oriental towns, its buildings are pure white and 
flat-roofed, and these showing against a background of rich 
and abundant foliage, of divers colouring, of varied surface, 
and with the distance occupied by the dark blue Mediter- 
ranean, ought to render both town and suburbs as welcome 
objects for the artist's canvas, as its delightful glens and 
glades are said to be to the wealth and beauty of Italy. 

" An' oh ! sir, such cuddies an' grapes as they have 
there," remarked the enthusiastic old quarter-master, who 
had been gazing from the binnacle upon a scene which he 
must have lingered over a score of times before. 

" Such cuddies an' grapes, sir ! Talk o' the white asses 
o' Palestine, an' the vines o' Eschol ! Pantellaria can beat 
them baith." 

The ancient name of this beautiful island was Cossyra, 
and the ruins of the old town are still visible in a pretty 
valley to the south-east of Oppidolo. Near the summit of 
one of its two conspicuous mountain peaks is the only 
natural curiosity to be seen. It is a lake ninety feet deep, 
occupying an old crater. There are besides a few hot 
springs constantly bubbling forth, and giving evidence that 
volcanic activity is only in abeyance. 

By the time these notes had been made, the preparation 
for Divine Service in the saloon was completed, and after 
the bell had ceased its mellow and musical invitation, all 
the passengers, the officers not on duty, and the bulk of the 
crew attended. The reverend gentleman already alluded 
to, with his maimed arm in a sling and suffering consider- 
able pain, read the appropriate lessons and preached a 

c 2 



20 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



short, impressive sermon, which was listened to with all 
becoming: decorum and interest. His remarks were based 
on the second chapter of St. John, particularly the third 
and fourth verses — "And when they wanted wine, the 
mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. J esus 
saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee ? 
Mine hour is not yet come." The clergyman said, among 
other remarks, his hearers would remember that the mother of 
our Lord is represented in Scripture as having several times 
interfered when in company with Christ in a manner which 
called forth immediate rebuke. Nevertheless this habit of 
hers, although always censured at the time, seemed to be 
the principal authority the Eoman Catholics offered for their 
practice of Mariolatry. We were now in a region where 
this objectionable superstition held full sway, and where 
the population provided an apt illustration of neglecting 
the substance for the pursuit of the shadow. The reverend 
gentleman also made some remarks on the blighting effects 
of Mohammedanism, but was of opinion that the days of this 
fraud on humanity were numbered. 

Unfortunately, there being no musical people on board, 
we had no hymns, and the service was concluded in about 
half-an-hour. It was an exceedingly pleasant experience, 
and those of us who were of a different party in politics for- 
got for the time such mundane matters in hearkening to the 
eloquent words from the lips of this fine old Tory clergyman, 
who did his duty well in the midst of his own sufferings. 

Towards the afternoon several glimpses of the island of 
Sicily were obtained, and, when the slight land breeze 
cleared away the haze, the summit of the cone of Mount Etna, 
snow-streaked and ghostly, loomed dimly beyond the line 
of the horizon fully ninety miles away. Up to this time 
such satisfactory progress had been made by the steamer 
that our arrival at Malta would have happened during 
darkness at an inconvenient hour. It was therefore decided 
by the captain to reduce the rate of speed, so as to reach the 
grand island fortress at dawn. 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



21 



The easy motion the steamer now assumed proved 
eminently favourable for letter- writing, and the posting-up 
of diaries. Accordingly, as soon as the dinner table was 
cleared the interesting spectacle was seen of the simulta- 
neous appearance of a number of writing-desks, earnest 
students, and a large display of blank paper. In one 
corner by himself sat the rhymster, deeply pondering, and 
making occasional surreptitious dips into a maroon-covered 
fat little volume, which one of the ladies maliciously re- 
marked under her breath, bore a suspicious resemblance to 
Dr. Longmuir's Rhyming Dictionary, or the venerable C. J. 
Smith's collection of synonyms and antonyms. The student 
of Greek antiquities was busy writing, and consulting a 
large map of the Archipelago ; the business gentlemen were 
adding the finishing touches to connubial communications 
intended for their doubtless anxious wives in England ; and 
the rest, as is generally the case in similar circumstances, 
plunged their pens very frequently into their ink-bottles, 
and made a great many surveys of the ceiling in search of 
ideas, before either their letters or diaries bore many ink- 
stains. 

As the night proved calm and clear, most of the 
passengers trode the upper deck for a little before turning 
in, and were rewarded by seeing Goza light at 9.15. 

On previous occasions some of the party had already 
visited Malta, but in every instance this had occurred at 
night, or late in the afternoon ; consequently, the splendour 
of a cloudless sunrise over the vast cream-coloured strong- 
hold proved a fresh experience to all of us. From an early 
hour the steamer had been sailing- along the coast of Goza, 
an egg-shaped island twenty-four miles in circumference, 
situated about four miles from Malta, and forming one of 
the three of which the group consists. When the pilot 
came on board soon after dawn, the course was changed, 
and the steamer's head steered for the harbour of Yaletta. 
A few minutes later the edge of the sun appeared on the 
horizon, and the sumptuousness of the sky tints proved 



22 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



enthralling. The fortified parts of Malta, including Valetta 
and suburbs, being of a pale yellow colour or pure white, 
these first rays lit up the scene with startling, pantomimic 
suddenness. Glistening with the past night's heavy dew, 
the great guns reflected the sun's beams upwards into the 
dark blue starlit sky, while the secondary streaks of light 
glancing off the higher forts and artillery, then from those 
higher still, crossed and glinted about at various angles 
like quick flashes from millions of prisms. Presently the 
sunbeams took a loftier flight, and caught the windows of 
the town houses, afterwards those of the upper mansions, 
and finally the tops of the palaces, spires, and gilded vanes. 
The brilliant effect was so rapid, so changeful, so dazzling, 
as to suggest a glimpse of fairyland seen through a gigantic 
kaleidoscope, rather than the sober picture of a sternly grim 
British fortress, full of the most potent engines of destruction. 

As the Grand Harbour was more nearly approached, it 
was seen to be alive, even at that early hour, with rowing- 
boats of every size, shape, and hue, the owners of which 
were making them dance merrily over the waves, the colour 
of the latter being now a refreshing pea-green, as contrasted 
with the deep indigo of the outer Mediterranean. Presently 
the steamer was surrounded with watermen, and a Babel of 
tongues waxed clamorous for employment, so that, between 
the hoarse commands of the officers, the piping of the boat- 
swain, the " aye, aye, sir," of the crew, the escape of steam, 
and pattering of many feet along the deck with the huge 
wire mooring hawsers, all ordinary speech had to be aban- 
doned, for it could not be heard. As we moved inwards, 
rough sketches in passing were made of the fortified rock of 
St. Angel o, with the pretty white buildings all over it, 
Plingherbeb Point coming in on the left, and part of the 
Yettoriosa Pocks appearing on the extreme right. We had 
now reached Dragut Point, and were approaching Port 
St. Elmo, a massive work guarding the entrance to Quaran- 
tine Harbour, doubling which, and passing Eiccasch Port 
and Thingherbab Battery, the "Sidon" dropped anchor, 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



23 



and by means of two wire ropes let out from the stern, was 
warped round by the donkey-engine, and secured to granite 
posts on the island. 

As usual in such cases, when the steamer arrives at a 
favourable hour, it is customary for the passengers to make 
up parties to go on shore and view the various sights. 
Accordingly, after getting clear of a crowd of plump, sturdy 
beggars echoing the plaintive cry of "nix mangiare" or 
nothing to eat — after more or less wrangling with a per- 
tinacious tribe of guides, carriage drivers, and trouble- 
some mendicants and loafers who infest the Custom House 
landing, we passed up a steep winding road cut out of the 
limestone rock, crossed a drawbridge over a deep fosse 
nicely furnished with orange-trees and bananas, penetrated 
a sentinelled gateway, traversed a market redolent with 
odours at once delicious and abominable, and at length 
reached the Strada Santa Lucia, a street of steps, offering 
one of the most picturesque features of Valetta. On a hot 
day the ascent of one of these long vistas of broad stairs 
may not form a pleasing prospect to the plethoric or lazily- 
inclined tourist ; and one may find an excuse even for the 
rancorous farewell Lord Byron took of them when he said : 

" Adieu, ye joys of La Valette ! 
Adieu, sirocco, sun and sweat ! 
Adieu, thou palace rarely enter'd ! 
Adieu, ye mansions where — I've ventured ! 
Adieu, ye cursed streets of stairs ! 
(How surely he who mounts you swears ! ) " 

Nevertheless, to the eye of the artist they afford a never- 
palling series of studies of animated life of the most varied 
description. At one time strings of laden donkeys may 
be seen ascending or descending, accompanied by men of 
widely-severed nationalities ; at another appears a long 
procession flaunting banners, carrying objects of Popish 
superstition, singing some religious chant, and followed 
closely by a mob of bare-headed enthusiasts, crossing them- 
selves as they pass the carved saints, which look down upon 



24 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOE ; 



them from many a sculptured nook. Frequently the steps 
are occupied by a noisy group of Maltese sailors, boatmen, 
or fishermen rushing down pell-mell from their morning or 




Fig. 4.— Ordinary Maltese "Walking-Dress. 

evening meal to spend the remainder of the day or night 
on the water; and one often sees at the same time a jovial 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT 



25 



band of brown, athletic British man-of-war's men, or sailors 
from merchant steamers, mounting with the alacrity of 
schoolboys urged by the novelty of the scene, and bent on 
climbing to the summit ere looking behind them. The 
elastic-footed Spaniard, with his pork-pie hat and crimson 
sash, is there also, and by his side leaps his goat, as little to 
be ignored in his domestic arrangements as the " rint-paying 
pig " is in Paddy's. 

One sees Arab merchants in all the splendours of the 
desert, as well as the more civilised Moors from Tunis and 
Tripoli, graceful and majestic in their flowing beards and 
robes, whose every movement and attitude is statuesque. 
But probably no object passed on those stairs is more 
attractive than a young Maltese lady tripping lightly down, 
enveloped in flimsy black material, and covered with her 
black silk mantilla. Why black should be chosen is, and 
probably will always remain, a mystery ; but certainly the 
whole arrangement is piquante, coquettish, and irresistible 
(Fig. 4). 

Unfortunately the pleasing effect of such a panorama of 
picturesque life is invariably modified and disparaged, par- 
ticularly to the Scottish Presbyterian eye, by the locust-like 
swarms of fat, greasy, shaven, animal-looking priests met at 
every corner. These men are everywhere in numbers surely 
far exceeding the wants for ghostly council of the poor 
dupes of Malta, and their very multitude seems to cast a 
reflection upon the British Government and people for 
lukewarmness in affording the antidote by not supplying 
more Protestant clergymen than there are at present on 
the islands. 

The Strada Santa Lucia, notwithstanding its steepness 
and consisting as it does wholly of steps, was in its time a 
thoroughfare of great importance. In the year 1851 it was 
celebrated for its sculptors, who, out of the beautiful, soft, 
cream-coloured limestone of the country, regularly carved 
for sale richly-decorated vases and figures, and for its artists 
in the precious metals, whose filigree gold and silver work 



26 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



has never been excelled. At the present time it maintains 
something of its old character, although the chief shops are 
now found at the top of the hill. Having surmounted the 
steps the tourist finds himself upon a flat surface, on the 
right hand of which is the celebrated church of St. 
John. 

There are many objects of interest in Malta, and a 
sufficient variety to suit the taste of almost every visitor ; 
still, those which are available for a day's sight-seeing over 
and above the fortifications, are not numerous. The passing 
tourist leaves his steamer under strict injunctions to return 
by a certain hour on pain of being left behind ; consequently, 
he usually hires a carriage and flits about from place to 
place as fast as horse-flesh can carry him, seeing a great 
deal, perhaps, yet remembering nothing. This rapidity of 
motion is said to constitute the normal state of happiness to 
which our American cousins look forward with complacency ; 
but the British traveller, landing at Malta, would be well 
advised to remain contented with seeing a little of its 
beauties thoroughly, and trust to having a future oppor- 
tunity to spend on the remainder. 

After posting letters it is but a few steps to the palace of 
the Governor, and most visitors hasten thither who have 
been exposed to the sun for an hour or two, to cool down in 
its splendid marble corridors. This massive building was 
formerly the residence of the Grand Masters of the Knights 
of Malta. Inside its two handsome courts are numerous 
orange-trees, said to be usually hanging with fruit in 
various stages of development. Among the decorative 
foliage are the Euphorbia and Hibiscus, and the walls are 
gay with Clematis, Passiflora, and other kindred climbers in 
the full blaze of beauty in March. In the outer square 
an object of some interest is pointed out, an Araucaria 
excelsa, or Norfolk Island pine, of considerable size, planted 
by Prince Alfred in 1858, when the tree was only seven 
feet in height. Ascending from the court the visitor is apt 
to be disappointed with the staircase, but above there is 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



27 



much to chain the eye. We now reach a spacious corridor 
giving access to the whole upper part of the edifice, and 
depicted on the walls, in fresco, are the naval victories of 
the Knights, the quaintness of the representations inducing 
many a smile, and carrying the mind back to a period when 
marine warfare seemed but little beyond its infancy. Old 
frescoes also adorn the three state-rooms, eight subjects on 
each, mostly military and naval scenes. The armoury is 
next in order, where numerous memorials of the Knights are 
shown, such as the actual pikes, halberds, bows and arrows, 
and spiked clubs, with which many a Turkish head in the 
good old days was broken. The other rooms usually visited 
are the council-room, hung with handsome tapestry, the 
magnificent ball-room, library, and museum. There is food 
in abundance within this ancient palace for the architect, 
the artist, and antiquarian, and on the marble stairs and in 
the vast corridors a never-ceasing tide of travellers from all 
parts of the world is always ebbing and flowing, yielding an 
exhaustless theme for the student of humanity. 

Two o'clock is the hour before which Protestant visitors 
are not allowed admission to the famous church of St. John. 
It is a massive pile as seen from outside, but it is bulky 
rather than architecturally striking. Inside, however, the 
ample dimensions of the enormous vault are as marked as 
the beauty of the details. The interior is an enormous 
square hall with a curved and painted ceiling, and the area 
on either side is divided ofY into a series of subsidiary chapels. 
At the side opposite the entrance stands the altar, surmounted 
by seven massive silver candlesticks, each sustaining a 
yellow candle some six feet in length. On either side of 
the altar, resting upon ornamental brackets, are two hand- 
some organs, one of which is used every clay, and the other 
only on special occasions. Large silver lamps hang by chains 
from the ceiling, and several bronze figures in the area carry 
candelabra of imposing dimensions and beautiful design. 
Elegant bronze rails, formerly of solid silver, divide the 
altar space from the body of the church, and one of the side 



28 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



chapels once possessed gates, also of pure silver ; but during 
the period the island was in French occupation, this show 
of precious metal is said to have proved too strong a 
temptation for Gallic cupidity, and it was appropriated. 
About the same period, the covetous soldiery under 
Bonaparte, denuded St. John's Church of many valuable 
relics, such as the basin and ewer presented by Henry the 
Eighth of England to the Grand Master, L'Isle Adam ; the 
sword and dagger, the scabbards of gold, and the hilts 
adorned with gems, presented by the Spanish king to La 
Yalette, as a mark of his appreciation of the gallantry of 
the knight during the great siege ; the silver images of the 
twelve apostles, and magnificent candelabra ; to the removal 
of all of which the sacristan who shows strangers through 
the building alludes even now with words of deepest 
bitterness. The twelve apostles, however, were afterwards 
ransomed by an enthusiastic Maltese prelate, and are to 
be seen at Citta Yecchia. Probably the most unique and 
interesting features of this handsome fane are the tesselated 
pavement, and the painted ceiling. The former consists 
specially in four hundred sepulchral slabs of coloured 
marbles laid down in memory of the Knights. These 
embrace heraldic devices, naval and military trophies, 
representations of musical instruments, angels, martyrs, 
skeletons, and other curious subjects done in mosaic. The 
latter, executed by Matthew Preti between 1661 and 1699 
on the stone, without the intervention of plaster, conveys to 
the upward gazing eye the full effect of life-sized figures in 
relief. Some beautiful tapestry is also shown, which came 
from the looms at Brussels. When originally sent the 
valuable consignment was captured by piratical Moors, but 
was afterwards recovered by a payment of £6000 by the 
Knights. 

Although the islands of Malta are bigotedly Koman 
Catholic, it is to some small extent gratifying to the Scotch 
and English visitor to observe, as he walks along from St. 
John's Church, both Presbyterian and Episcopal places of 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



29 



worship. I use the word " gratifying " advisedly, as I had 
learned from a former resident of many years in Malta that 
the amount of toleration extended to other forms of faith than 
that of Rome was, up till recently, of the scantiest kind. 
I had heard numerous stories of the base truckling to Popish 
forms and ceremonies, which not long ago had been exacted 
from British officers and Protestant residents. Processions 
of the Host, every one knows, are frequent in Roman 
Catholic countries, and when these occurred in Malta up till 
within late years, all passers-by were expected, and in a 
sense forced, to do obeisance to the mummery. My in- 
formant stated that while living there he often got out of 
the way when he saw such a procession approaching, 
rather than submit to perform an act of flagrant idolatry : 
and that, within his own experience, not many years ago, a 
British officer of the garrison had been cashiered for refusing 
to countenance or acknowledge in any degree the Popish 
pageantry of the streets. There is nothing surprising in 
this, when we look a little further back into history, and find 
that the Catholic priesthood of Malta did all they could to 
prevent the building of the first Episcopal church there in 
1839. Queen Adelaide having derived considerable benefit 
from a short residence in the island, as an act of gratitude, 
laid the foundation-stone of the collegiate church of St. 
Paul on the 20th March, which was afterwards completed 
at the royal lady's expense. Meanwhile, the priests went 
about bullying and threatening the Government, and 
doing all they could, without irretrievably committing 
themselves, to excite and disturb the population. It is said, 
in palliation, that the maintenance of the Roman Catholic 
Church, as the established form of religion, was one of the 
conditions of the cession of Malta to the British on the 15th 
June, 1802, and confirmed by the Congress of Vienna in 
1814 ; but no one has as yet ventured to assert that Maltese 
priestly intolerance was also recognised as part of the 
bargain, or that it included permission for the unlimited 
fleecing of strangers. Considering that for over seventy 



30 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA M1NOE ; 



years these islands have been British property ; that their 
population has enjoyed all the rights and privileges of 
British subjects ; that the British people are by an over- 
whelming majority Protestant ; and that the gay old flag 
which dominates the fortress, acknowledges no earthly 
superior ; it seems almost incredible to us at the present 
date, that such Popish impertinence, as that alluded to, should 
ever for a moment have been permitted. The existence now, 
however, of edifices for Protestant worship is a hopeful 
feature, and indicates, not that Popery is any more tolerant 
than it was, but that the rights of Protestants in Malta are 
now better understood. 

Few, if any, visitors who had read of the heroic defence 
of Malta by the Knights against the Turks during the Great 
Siege of 1565, but would, after viewing the magnificent 
church of St. John, in which many of the defenders were 
interred, feel a longing to see the bastions where their 
immortal renown had been achieved. The oldest of the 
forts is St. Angelo, built on the site of a temple to Juno, 
and afterwards of a Eoman guard-house mentioned by 
Cicero. This was the only place of strength in existence 
when the Knights first got possession of the islands. They 
immediately added to its power of resistance and completed 
the work in 1690. Standing on the upper part of its 
triple tier of frowning batteries, the tourist may occupy the 
very spot once held by the Grand Master La Valette, when 
watching with deep anxiety the terrible assault of the Turks 
on Fort St. Elmo, nearly opposite. The other forts are 
Ricassoli, Elmo, with Abercrombie's tomb on the ramparts, 
and Tigne; which three defend the two entrances to the 
Grand and Quarantine Harbours. Fort Manoel is inside 
the latter, and Fort Michael was an old landward work 
which withstood the Turkish batteries and assaults from the 
north-west angle of the suburb of Senglea. But to examine 
these amazing works thoroughly, would consume more time 
than even our smartest American cousin could accomplish 
in the course of several clays. My party did not make the 



OR,* NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



31 



attempt beyond St. Elmo. We made a few purchases, took 
a short drive, and as the day was far spent hastened on 
board our steamer. 

Punctually at four o'clock the " Sidon " screwed out of 
the Grand Harbour, passing the war-ships " Superb," 
" Thunderer," and " Agincourt," lurking behind the 
ramparts of the vast fortress ready for any emergency. 
From smooth water we quickly found ourselves in a tem- 
pestuous sea, and in less than an hour the great island 
stronghold was invisible. 



32 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



CHAPTER III. 

MALTA TO SYRA AND SMYRNA. 

During the past few days the clergyman's broken arm, 
already alluded to, had become so painful and troublesome 
that the passengers united in advising him to land at Malta 
with the object of consulting a physician, which he did. 
The advice he received was to remain on shore for a few 
weeks until the bones had become properly united, or go 
home at once by the next steamer. The former suggestion 
he followed, consequently we lost a much esteemed fellow- 
traveller and companion, and the Conservatives of the party 
their Boanerges. Fortunately for himself, the reverend 
gentleman, being possessed of independent means, and out 
for a holiday of several months' duration, his enforced stay 
at Byron's " little military hothouse " for a few weeks would 
form the chief part of the inconvenience he would require to 
endure. 

For the morning of this our thirteenth day at sea, the 
object of interest promised to our view by the officers of the 
ship was Cape Matapan, the most southerly point of Greece 
and of Europe. It is 387 nautical miles from Malta, and 
forms the termination of the wild range of lofty mountains 
known as the Pentedaktylos, about sixty miles in length. 
The central and culminating peak is Mount Elias, 7902 feet 
above the sea-level : it is usually covered with snow as shown 
in the accompanying (Fig. 5) sketch, and is the dominat- 
ing summit of the Morea. Probably no more splendid object 
can be seen in Europe than this noble pinnacle, towering as 
it does in dazzling majesty high above the adjacent high- 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



33 



lands of almost countless volcanic cones. The entire land- 
scape, as far as the eye ^n reach, is grand and imposing, 
yet it displays a scene of terrible chaos and savage desola- 
tion, which it \vo8ld be difficult to surpass. The people who 
inhabit this wild region are said to be nearly as rough and 
uncouth as. ta^eir, c^gs. Nominally Greeks and subjects of 
King George, they are nevertheless in reality a half brigand, 
half independent race, acknowledging no monarch or supe- 
rior, and in their habits and traditions so unchanged all 
through the centuries that they still speak the language of 
ancient Sparta, and observe some of the laws of Lycurgus. 




Fig. 5. — Mount Elias (The Ancient Taletum) 



For the last fifteen miles or so Cape Matapan is a lofty, 
precipitous, narrow ridge of only a few hundred yards in 
breadth, washed by the sea on either side and often wholly 
obscured by vapour. On the present occasion, while in the 
chief officer's room after breakfast, having a look at the chart 
and obtaining some information regarding distances, the 
steamer's whistle suddenly sounded, while speed was re- 
duced by one-half. Scrambling on deck I found the vessel 
surrounded by a dense fog which had in a few minutes swept 
down from the wilderness of peaks. Presently quarter-speed 
was ordered from the bridge, then the engine was stopped 
altogether, while the mist-trumpet wailed forth its most 

D 



34 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



dismal and pathetic notes. In this unexpected manner 
ships are often surprised, and the situation when a fog 
occurs is rendered all the more dangerous from the fact that 
most vessels passing either way endeavour to hug the cape 
as closely as possible, so that usually a considerable number 
are to be found clustered within a limited area of sea. The 
position for the " Sidon " was certainly unpleasant while it 
lasted, as other steam whistles and fog-horns were heard 
apparently in close proximity on all sides. However, in 
about an hour the veil of vapour cleared away as 
abruptly as it had fallen, and the voyage was pursued 
without further interruption. 




Fig. 6. — ItLAND or Cerigo. 



Getting rid of the fog the steamer's position was found 
to be about two- thirds across the great indentation in the 
southern extremity of Greece between Capes Matapan and 
Malea, known under the three names of the Gulf of Kalamata, 
Lakonia, and Marathonisi. Ahead lay the almost unculti- 
vated, although once celebrated, island of Cerigo, anciently 
known as Cythera, some seventeen miles long by ten miles 
in breadth. In classical times it was held as specially 
sacred to the goddess Venus, who emerged from the sea into 
being, according to Greek story, close to its shores, and the 
island supplied the surname of Cythersea to that attractive 
and celebrated lady. The Phoenicians built a temple upon 
it to Yenus, but this erection has probably long since dis- 



OB, NOTES .FROM THE LEVANT. 



35 



appeared, as the only buildings now alluded to by travellers 
are a mediaeval castle on one of its headlands, and a light- 
house on another (Fig. 6). From this point, also, another 
charming view of Mount Elias was obtained, clothed with 
snow from summit almost to its base ; and a little further a 




Fig. 7.— Island of Candia. 



glimpse was got of the site of the beautiful stalactite grottoes 
of Santa Sofia and Mylopotamos in Cerigo. These caves 
are noted for the fine specimens of porphyry they contain. 
The island, it is said, might be made to yield more produce 
than it does, as its 18,000 of a population have many food 
and other resources. It abounds with hares, rabbits, and 

d 2 



36 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



turtle-doves ; quail and other birds are numerous, while the 
fisheries are very productive ; its grapes, wine, oil, melons, 
figs, hemp, cotton, and honey are all of the finest quality 
although scanty, and cereals are grown only for home use. 
Cerigo forms one of the seven Ionian Islands which were 
transferred from British protection and handed over U> 
Greece in 1864. 

To the left of the steamer was seen the vast gulf running 
up for some sixty miles into Lacedaemonia ; presently the 
little barren rocky islet of Cervi or Elaphonisi, nine hun- 
dred feet high, was also passed on the left, when, in the 
course of the forenoon, the massive bulk of Cape Malea, two 
thousand feet in height, burst for a moment upon our view. 
It was only for a moment, as the fog came over it, as it had 
at Matapan, and although it did not roll down and take 
possession of the sea, or even of the lower slopes, it remained 
like a night-cap on the mighty headland, and we saw it no 
more. But as if to make up for this great disappoint- 
ment, the seascape seemed to brighten towards the south 
and the atmosphere to get so pure and thin, that the 
snow-covered mountains in the large island of Candia or 
Crete, although eighty-nine miles distant, became distinctly 
visible. (Fig. 7.) 

It was of course impossible for any of us to sketch Cape 
Malea as a whole, but we were presently interested in 
a curious valley near it, which caused some lively dis- 
cussion on board as to its probable origin. A portion of 
the shore seemed strewn with ponderous pebble-like blocks 
of limestone, each hundreds of feet in height and mostly 
standing on their bulkier ends. As the view changed with 
the motion of the vessel, the confused - looking masses 
assumed the appearance of Druidical remains ; then the 
individual stones lost their distinctive character, and 
appeared to be simply so many pinnacles of hard rock pro- 
jecting from a general rocky surface, from which the softer 
stone and soil had ages ago been washed or torn away by 
the action of water or ice. 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



37 



Near the extremity of Cape Malea, sometimes called 
Cape Angelo, and three hundred feet or so up the face of 
the rock, is the hut and chapel of a hermit (Fig. 8), who 
for many years saluted passing vessels, by waving a white 
flag, having a black St. George's cross embroidered on it. 
On the present occasion he did not appear, although the 
steam whistle was blown and the ship sailed very near. 

Later during the day, the steamer passed within sight of 
Melos, the most westerly of the group of islands known as 




Fig. 8.— Hermit's Chapel. Hermit's Hut. Grotto. Cape Malea. 



the Cyclades. It is a pieturescjue-looking country measur- 
ing fourteen by eight miles, and possesses one of the finest 
harbours in the Mediterranean. Although but moderate 
in size, it has an important and interesting history, reaching 
back to the remote period of 1116 years before the Christian 
era. At that date it was first occupied by a colony of 
Lacedaemonians, and it enjoyed a state of perfect inde- 



38 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR; 



pendence for 700 years, or until the conclusion of the great 
Peloponnesian War. Having refused to join in this struggle, 
which would have brought them into collision* with their 
own countrymen, the irritated Athenians at the end of the 
war made an attack on Melos, killing all the males capable 
of bearing arms, sweeping away into slavery the women and 
children, and leaving the island utterly desolate behind 
them. It was afterwards repeopled by an ithenian colony 
which in turn was destroyed by Lysander, who restored the 
survivors of the original inhabitants. Although there may 
be little to rivet the fluctuating attention of the ordinary 
tourist, except the hot springs, the sulphur mines, and the 




hia. 9.— Kakavi — Rocky Islet. 



volcano Kalamos, still in a semi-active state ; yet it will not 
be forgotten by the scholar, the antiquary, and the artist 
that the beautiful Yenus de Milo, now in the Louvre, was 
found in this island, and that there are doubtless many 
equally valuable mementoes of ancient art still earthbound. 

The course of our ship now lay between the picturesque 
islands of Seriphos and 8iphnos, the latter so healthy, that 
some writers allege that people there commonly live to the 
age of one hundred and twenty years. A few miles further 
revealed the rocky crag named Serpho Poulo, noted in 
mythology as the island where Perseus petrified the inhabi- 
tants by the exhibition of the Gorgon's head. The stony 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



39 



charm appears to be exhausted in this later age of the 
world, as there are over three thousand industrious persons 
there, who make a living out of the valuable deposits of 
rich iron-ore they mine, most of which is sent to Great 
Britain. 

Other islands arid notable rocks were seen both earlier 
and later during the day — all picturesque and worthy the 
sketch-book. Among these occurred a singular rock named 
Karavi (Fig. 9), rising out of the sea to the height of one 
hundred and ten feet from an abyss of two hundred fathoms. 
It is one of three islets situated in the track of steamers 
sailing between Cape Malea and the Zea Channel, and 
derives its name from its supposed likeness to a ship under 
full sail. The other isles are Belo Poulo and Falconera, 
the last appearing in the text of Falconer's poem of ' The 
Shipwreck.' * Those islands are evidently the summits of 
submarine mountains, which have sunk on account of the 
crust of the earth collapsing during some prehistoric volcanic 
disturbance. The depth of water near them is from one 
hundred and seventy to five hundred fathoms. 

The second section of the voyage was completed by the 
arrival of the " Siclon" on the fourteenth day in the convenient 
harbour of Syra, an island ten miles in length and five in 
breadth, belonging to Greece. Although there is not much 
to reward the visitor on shore in the way of picturesqueness, 
the view from the sea (Fig. 10) of the double town rising up 
the steep face of twin crags is certainly pictorial, and the 
mixed land- and seascape as surveyed from the portico of 
the Greek church of St. George on one of the eminences, com- 
prehensive. The houses and public buildings being nearly all 
pure white, some of them faced with marble, flat-roofed, and 

* William Falconer was a Scotch poet, son of an Edinburgh barber, 
and brought up to the sea. About 1751 he published several efforts, and 
among them his chief work ' The Shipwreck/ a poem in three cantos, 
suggested by his own experience when wrecked on a voyage between 
Alexandria and Venice, during which only himself and other two of the 
crew were saved. He was afterwards lost along with his ship the 
" Aurora," in the Mozambique Channel in the winter of 1769. 



40 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



abundantly supplied with growing flowers in many tinted 
-pots, vases, and balconies, the combined effect is fairy-like 
by day ; and when the twin rocks glow with thousands of 
tiny lamps after sundown, the witchery by night is even 
more complete. Malta has an air of solid, massive grand- 
eur ; it is stupendous in its show of ponderous strength. 
Syra impresses the beholder rather with the idea of a place 
thrown airily together, in a freak, by playful spirits. 

Although the pretty twin towns of Old and New Syra 
present little to the close inspection of the visitor, the 




Fig. 10.— Approach to Syra from S.E. 



quays are well worth rambling over. Steamers and ships of 
all nations are usually to be found in the harbour, moored 
with their sterns towards the shore. Merchandise of every 
kind is exposed for sale in the open air, and as buyers and 
sellers appear to be equally numerous and eager to trade, 
the noise of traffic is as unceasing as it is energetic. Seeds, 
vegetables, and fruits of all sorts meet the eye at every 
turn ; sellers of fish, flesh, and fowl seem to monopolise 
more than a fair share of the market area ; drinking-saloons 
with numberless little round tables claim the side paths 
without fear of challenge ; money-changers with their wire- 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



41 



covered cases of coins get wedged in wherever there is 
a yard or two of vacant space ; while all over an ever 
surging crowd of the baggy pendant-trousers of Greece, 
the smart naval -jackets of Britain, and the ample robes 
of Hebrews, Turks, and Arabs, meander ; the owners 
evidently possessed with some object, yet in no particular 
hurry to attain it. Good nature and even benevolence 
appear to be the normal expression of every countenance, 
so it was with a species of shock that I suddenly came upon 
a display of inhumanity which is hereby brought under the 
notice of the " Syra Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to 
Denizens of the Deep," should such an institution exist. 
A fisherman, surrounded by a delighted-looking mob, was 
torturing an octopus. The creature was of some size, and 
in its defence had already squirted its sepia all over the faces 
of its brutal assailants, whose classical features were thereby 
far from improved. As I passed, the unfortunate octopod 
was having its head slowly hacked off with a blunt knife, 
while different weapons were inch by inch curtailing its 
long, sucker-covered arms. It was a truly degrading 
spectacle, showing how much of the fiend may sometimes be 
found allied to a high type of human beauty, and I regretted 
my ignorance of the Greek language, as I might have 
interfered to stop, or at least have remonstrated against, the 
exhibition. Scenes of such a revolting kind, it is to be 
hoped, are not common, as the Greeks, from the peasant to 
the peer, are allowed on all hands to have become greatly 
improved in every sense, from what they may have been 
after centuries of subjection at the period of their insur- 
rection against the Turks in 1821. In Syra, as elsewhere, 
the national characteristic is now a keen thirst for know- 
ledge, and an almost feverish desire for the thorough 
education of the children. In this little island, main- 
taining in all 22,000 souls, more than 3,000 scholars daily 
attend the various training establishments. 

Unlike most of the neighbouring islands, Syra seems to 
possess no history, and it can show no antiquities, if we 



42 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



except the circumstances that Pherekydes, the tutor of 
Pythagoras, was bom there, and that vestiges of temples, 
supposed to have been dedicated to Poseidon and Amphitrite, 
have been seen. It is essentially a great entrepot for trade, 
and the inhabitants are all business men, consequently, the 
island is, and has long enjoyed the reputation of being, 
orderly and well governed ; indeed, it is said that the Cus- 
toms duties collected, form a very considerable portion of 
the revenue of Greece. Syra is at present reckoned the 
chief island of the Cyclades, the seat of government for the 
group, and is the residence of a number of foreign consuls, 
yet it seems to have been almost unknown prior to the 
Greek War of Independence. In Homer's * Odyssy ' it is 
merely alluded to as •• rich in pastures, in herds, in wine, in 
wheat ; " but it seems hardly to have attracted the sculptor, 
or offered much encouragement to the architect of either 
temple, circus, or theatre. Such being the case the tourist, 
after a ramble through the streets, and mounting the four 
hundred steps to get a view of the harbour and islets from 
the church of St. George, finds little to detain him ; and if 
the one hundred tons or so of emery-ore or corundum, which 
most British steamers find waiting for them, have been 
shipped, the vessel will speedily trip her anchor and steer 
for the Gulf of Smyrna. 

Passing out of the harbour, as I did, on a moonless night, 
the singular charm of the place as an artistic spectacle was 
truly captivating. Abruptly rising from the water on two 
adjoining hills, stand the two older of the ecclesiastical 
buildings the island possesses — one a Greek church, and 
the other a Roman Catholic fane. " When, on festal nights," 
said one of the ship's officers with an imaginative and 
spectacular turn of mind : 

" When, on festal nights, these buildings are lit up, in 
addition to the brilliant twinkling all over the twin towns ; 
when the strains of the organ and the voices of choristers 
are wafted softly downwards from those airy heights over 
the illuminated crags— we rough sailors, not to speak of the 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



43 



newly-arrived passengers, may well be excused if we rub 
our eyes and ask if it be not all a dream." 

On the sixteenth clay from leaving Liverpool, this 
interesting voyage was concluded. Early during the 
morning, the " Sidon " had got within a land-locked bay 
of more than thirty miles in depth, and closely resembling 
a Scottish loch on a large scale. 

Leaving the volcanic island of Khios behind, the steamer 
had rounded Mimas Peak, on the Kara Bournou peninsula, 
a splendid landmark for ship-masters, 1724 feet high, and 
was now churning its way past the islands in the Gulf of 
Smyrna. In a short time the peak also was in rear, with 
the sky and sea lit up by the orange glory of the rising sun. 
The mountains on either side gradually disclosed their 
rugged and time-worn features as they became warmed by 
the glowing orb of day. Quickly the white sails of the 
fishing-boats appeared to dart to and fro over the crystal 
expanse, while in the far distance pyramids of salt, piled 
high on the further beach, gave notice that the haunts of 
human labour were not far off. Keeping well in towards 
the western shore, the steamer soon reached the old ruinous 
Genoese battery named Sanjak Kalissi, where a temporary 
stoppage was made to obtain " pratique." The detention 
was trifling, as steamers arriving from British ports rarely 
trouble the Turks with infectious disease, yet the delay 
was sufficient to enable our sketchers to rub in hurriedly a 
few of the salient features of the scene. The fortress is 
admirably placed in order to command the only entrance 
there is for large vessels into the bay. Anchored a little 
way off is a light-ship, which marks the end of a shoal 
caused by the River Kodus. This spit of sand runs across 
the bay, leaving little depth of water in many places except 
at the spot marked by the castle on one side, and the light- 
ship on the other. The gate thus available is narrow, so that 
long-range artillery in the fortress is scarcely required. 
Nevertheless, it might be worth while for the Turkish 
authorities to mount one or two heavy guns of modern 



41 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR; 



manufacture on the new bastions in progress, in place of 
the ancient articles, with their bullets of granite and marble^ 




Fig. ll. — Agamemnon's Baths, Smyrna, Asia Minor. 

our glasses showed plainly from the steamer's deck. While 
passing the castle a good view of the country beyond was 



07?, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



45 



obtained. It is very fertile and early, on account of much 
subterranean heat ; so much so that melons, cucumbers, and 
grapes are furnished by this little peninsula before any 
other part of Asia Minor. In a cleft of the mountains near 
are the Baths of Agamemnon (Fig. 11), which I afterwards 
had an opportunity of visiting and sketching. Locally 
those hot springs are known as the Lidja of Balgora 
Ghikikiov : the first word meaning — " the plain belonging 
to the honey-sellers ; " the second — " a ruined village ; " 
while " lidja " is the recognised Turkish expression for 
" mineral baths." The village was formerly occupied by 
prosperous peasants, but after the termination of the 




Fig. 12.— First Glimpse of Smyrna from the Bay. 



Crimean War, when so many wild soldiers were let loose in 
Turkey to become reavers and freebooters, the welfare of the 
people was destroyed by frequent forays of brigands. Since 
then these marauders have been suppressed, and the neigh- 
bourhood is again full of industry and is flourishing. 

The progress of the steamer now seemed to be more rapid, 
at all events, village after village was speedily passed. 
Karatasch, Gruistuppi, and others were left in rear, and at 
length Old Smyrna burst upon our view, like a delicate line 
of white, on water of heavenly blue (Fig. 12). In a surpris- 
ingly short time, the " Sidon " was moored alongside floating 



46 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOB ; 



pontoons in the harbour ; letters were delivered on board by 
the obliging agent of the Cunard Company ; the men 
who had been most industrious in the keeping of diaries 
rushed off to supply themselves with fresh blank volumes at 
the nearest stationers ; one of the ladies, unable to secure 
companions on such short notice, made tracks for Ephesus 
alone ; while I bade my fellow-passengers farewell, and, along 
with my Smyrna friends, went on shore. 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



47 



CHAPTER IV. 

PRELIMINARIES OF THE SILK HARVEST. 

It is hardly judicious in any traveller in this age of mature 
intelligence to rush into print with crude first impressions 
of places he hopes to become better acquainted with by- 
and-by. Accordingly, at this early stage, I refrain from 
presenting any remarks regarding the ancient, active, and 
picturesque town of Smyrna, where I arrived on the 14th of 
March. At the same time I feel that my acknowledgments 
should not be delayed of the hospitality I subsequently 
received from Mr. John Griffitt, of Bournabat, his relations, 
friends, and acquaintances in and around Smyrna ; of the 
courtesy of the Turkish authorities in providing facilities 
and protection for travelling in the interior; and of the 
kindly forethought which dictated the forwarding to me, 
ere I had been more than a couple of days on shore, of 
cards of membership for both the Greek and European 
Clubs. 

One of the objects of my visit to Asia Minor on the 
present occasion was to go through the intricacies of an 
entire silk harvest — from the budding of the mulberries 
to the gathering of the cocoons and reeling the silk. 
As this object was accomplished through the early hatch- 
ing of the silkworms in some districts, I shall offer no 
apology for now introducing the reader to a picture of what 
I saw of the preliminary stage of an industry once of vast 
importance to this part of Turkey, subsequently almost 
annihilated through the ravages of disease, yet latterly being 



48 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



revived and restored by the unwearied, hitherto unremu- 
nerated, yet ungrudged efforts during more than thirty years 
of the distinguished English gentleman already named. 

Before entering upon the special subject of this chapter 
— the annual distribution of silkworms' eggs to the small 
farmers and peasantry of the villages and towns around 
Smyrna — it may be desirable to remark that, notwithstand- 
ing the all but entire freedom from disease latterly attained 
by the commercial graine reared by Mr. Griffitt at Bourna- 
bat, a long course of disappointment, spread over many 
years, in the use of French, Italian, indigenous, and other 
eggs, had soured the peasantry at the whole industry, so 
that the introduction of the regenerated race, even without 
charge, was for many a day regarded by the sericulturists 
with sullen suspicion, and Mr. Griffitt's philanthropic ad- 
vances met by aversion or derision. Fortunately for them, 
this era of ignorant, yet very pardonable hostility, was of 
short duration, as steps had been taken to conduct a silk- 
farming enterprise upon a small scale within Mr. Griffitt's 
own premises, under his own eye. To witness the success of 
the operations, high Turkish officials were invited. They 
came and were convinced. Small farmers and peasantry 
afterwards dropped in from time to time, by twos and threes, 
to wonder at and admire the triumphs of science they saw. 
Europeans and Americans, in passing through Smyrna, 
helped to swell the eager throng ; but under all the excite- 
ment, the doubts, and dismal prophecies, the presiding 
genius and his amiable and accomplished wife, steadily held 
on in the path they had laid down for themselves, and 
mauy of their visitors, who probably came to scoff, retired 
astonished and pondering. 

Such was the state of affairs a few seasons ago ; so it can 
hardly astonish the reader to be told that the fame of these 
regenerated eggs having spread far and near, as the end of 
March approaches, the weather every year becomes the 
subject of as great anxiety to the silk-growers of the Smyrna 
district as it is at all times to the British farmer, and Mr. 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT 



49 



Griffitt's probable supply of graine for distribution as preg- 
nant a topic for village speculation as the growing crop 
of cereals at home is to the corn magnates of Mark Lane. 

On the present occasion the distribution of graine com- 
menced in the village of Hagelar, about four miles from 
Bournabat, on the 16 th March ; rather earlier than usual on 
account of the warmth and geniality of the spring, and the 
evidences of immediate budding in the mulberry trees. 
The way thither lay through a well-cultivated country, 
dotted with numerous olive, fig, vine, orange, and other trees 
and shrubs, the last-named still gorgeous with some of the 
previous year's golden fruit. Stopping at the entrance to the 
village, the first house visited had for its guest-chamber a 
very clean airy room, with a long couch at one end, and a 
loom at the other. Katernee (Catherine) and her daughter, 
with some bright black-eyed Greek grandchildren, gave us 
an effusive welcome, all talking at once. How their eyes 
glistened when the little perforated, orange-coloured boxes, 
containing the precious eggs, were produced, and how the 
musical modern Greek language flowed from their lips in 
terms of the liveliest gratitude. Truly, I thought, if my 
friend reaps no other advantage than this, he is already 
amply rewarded. 

The next cottage entered contained, as before, a grand- 
mother and her married daughter, known in the village as 
Jamudituza, or " the mite of the ally," otherwise " John's 
little one," or " the tiny pet of John." There were several 
little girls of an olive hue, with eyes and hair of the 
intensest blackness, gaily trousered, squatting cross-legged 
on thick carpet cushions on the floor, engaged in embroidery 
work, and the smaller ones in dressing dolls. One or two 
older children sat on a couch doing crochet work with all 
the deftness of Western fingers. High up on the wall were 
several pictures of saints familiar to the Greek calendar, 
illuminated by a constantly burning lamp. This, it was 
explained, was not an act of superstition, but simply one of 
veneration towards great ones of their Church who had 

E 



50 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



lived and died in the esteem of their countrymen. Although 
evidently a superior family, and favourites of Mr. Griffitt, 
he gave them but a small quantity of eggs, knowing that 
their command of leaves and other facilities for a successful 
" education " * were limited. Then followed the kindly 
adieux. " Take care ; be diligent ; think of the nice winter 
dresses you will all get out of this little box by-ancl-by," 
said Mr. Griffitt, as we recrossed the threshold. 

An elderly woman seemed at first the sole occupant of 
the next cottage. The room into which we were ushered 
was a large, airy, attractive apartment, containing a gigantic 
couch fully fifteen feet long, covered with white cotton in 
such a manner as to reveal at intervals the hidden silken 
splendours beneath. In the middle of the room stood a 
picturesque apparatus, about four feet in height, of highly- 
polished copper (Fig. 50). It proved to be a brazier for 
holding a pan of glowing charcoal, and as the day was 
getting a little cold, the ignited fuel was soon placed 
in position, and it speedily diffused a pleasant atmosphere 
around. Following the charcoal pan came a handsome 
young Greek girl, Katernee, in her beautiful national dress, 
with much scarlet about it. She carried a tray of refresh- 
ments, preserved citrons, glasses of water, and the necessary 
number of silver spoons. Each of us was expected to take 
a spoonful of the sweetmeat, then a drink of water, leaving 
the spoon in the glass, which we did with the musical 
words, " Kali emara sas Keyrea f-acharisto" meaning " Good 
morning, lady, and thank you." The little incident seemed 
to me most graceful, and, considered in connection with the 
accessories of the house, the taste everywhere, the well-kept 
mirrors, the silver cups here and there, the handsome lamps, 
and the kindly manners, showed the family to be somewhat 
above the others we had visited in station. 

Next in order came an establishment of even greater 

* For the benefit of the non-professional sericulturist it may be 
explained that the word " education " is that used by the French silk- 
farmer to denote the breeding and rearing of silkworms. 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



51 



pretensions, yet affording an illustration that fine appearance 
is sometimes deceitful. Three years before, the inmates had 
behaved falsely, and Mr. Grifntt had determined to pass 
them over in the distribution ; but as they were all on the 
alert at the door as we were going by, and expressed the 
utmost penitence for their past misconduct, they were given 
some graine, accompanied with many a moral precept. 

By this time the news of our arrival had spread all over 
the village, so that at every corner we were waylaid and 
pounced upon by the eager wives and daughters of Hadjes 
and the descendants of Athanaseus. There were the pretty 
Mersos (Myrtles), the handsome Marigos Basilios (Marys, 
daughters of Basilios), and numbers of others with musical 
names, all anxious, and indeed determined, to obtain the 
coveted treasure, and vociferously urging their claims 
founded upon the number of mulberry trees they possessed 
or had rented. Some wanted more graine, some less ; all 
were prepared to take more than their allotted share, but 
the distributor was firm. He knew from former experience 
and recent inquiry how much to give ; he thoroughly 
gauged their facilities, their characters, and their general 
abilities. They got from quarter of an ounce to as much as 
an ounce and a half, according to a prearranged tariff, each 
family 'receiving a sheet of copious instructions printed in 
Greek ; and so the lively and interesting scene went on for 
hours. 

The next theatre of operations was the picturesquely- 
situated town of Magnesia, snugly nestled in a nook of the 
Sipylus mountains, and affording, it is said, one of the 
prettiest pictures to be found in Asia Minor. It is forty-one 
miles from Smyrna, is a handsome place in every respect, it 
contains about 50,000 inhabitants, and is easily reached in 
about two hours by railway. No less interesting are the 
scenes and places along the line. We took our seats in a 
second class carriage at Smyrna, a day or two after returning 
from Hagelar, surrounded with great baskets of graine, and 
had for fellow-travellers no less important personages than 

E 2 



52 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



Hassan EfTendi, a nephew of the present Turkish ambassador 
at Paris; Mons. Publi, a distinguished Armenian lawyer, 
practising at the Smyrna Bar; M. Mavroidhy of the 
American Consulate, and others. To these gentlemen I was 
indebted for some of the information which follows — 
information due, doubtless, to my telling them what I had 
come to Asia Minor for. It was not to spy out the naked- 
ness of the land, I said — it was not to criticise and find fault 
after my return ; but to see all that was good and praise- 
worthy, picturesque and charming, and to write home about 
what I had seen, mail after mail, whilst I remained. They 
were evidently gentlemen, they believed my words as 
translated by Mr. Griffitt, whom they all knew well ; 
accordingly we became quite friendly, and had a most 
pleasant trip together. 

The first object of interest the eye rests upon after the 
carriage door has been shut, with a kindly good-bye from 
Mr. Hutton, the station-master, and the train has moved on 
a little way, is the site of the ancient town of Smyrna. 
There does not seem to be a stone of it remaining ; the area 
is used as a vast cemetery, and the space once occupied by 
the port is a shallow swamp. It may be interesting to 
the reader to be reminded that this swampy expanse is 
believed to have been occupied by the Smyrna of the 
ancient geographer Strabo, and was the second town of the 
same name. The site of the first cannot be demonstrated 
with historical accuracy; still there are fair grounds for 
supposing that the first Smyrna — said to have been founded 
by an Amazon, or by Tantalus, a son of Jupiter— lay upon 
one of the lesser heights above the modern village of 
Bournabat, situated about four miles from the present great 
commercial Smyrna of the Levant. Some two miles from 
Bournabat there are Cyclopean remains near a stream which 
some scholars think correspond fairly well with classical 
descriptions of the Homeric Meles,* upon the banks of 

* In Chapter XV. the reader will observe that the name " Meles " 
is applied to a different stream, namely, to the short and canal-like 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



53 



which the blind poet is said to have been born. Among 
these relics tradition indicates Homer's tomb ; a little further 
off is the pretty lake in which Tantalus was doomed by the 
gods to the perpetual expiation of his thefts and other crimes ; 
and among the tumuli and remains at Bournabat his sepul- 
chre is shown. It may also be mentioned that the first 
Smyrna was destroyed in the year 627 B.C. by Alyattis, 
father of the wealthy Croesus, king of Lydia; that the 
second city, written about by Strabo, was built by Antigones 
and Lysimachus, two of Alexander's generals, by order of 
the great conqueror ; and that the modern Smyrna has to 
some extent risen out of its ruins. 

Skirting the gulf is seen the village of Cceur de Lion, 
where that redoubtable monarch once lived for a time, 
but whose name gradually came to be corrupted into 
the present one of Cordelio. This is one version of the 
story ; another is that the current form of the name was 
given on account of the number of larks seen there. My 
informant did not say " mud-larks," but these were the 
only specimens of whistling intelligences we saw, and 
they were evidently groping for eels in the adjoining 
fen, and passing very rude human jokes upon one another 
in the intervals of song. Whatever may have been the 
origin of the title, Cordelio is a prettily-situated village, 
full of handsome summer residences, built amidst orange 
and lemon groves, and rejoicing in a splendid background 
of picturesque mountains. These form the range which 
backbones the country as far as Alaschier, or ancient city 
of Philadelphia, the site of one of the seven Churches of the 

river which carries off the surplus water, ever gurgling up all over the 
large pond of Halka Bounar or " Diana's Bath," about two miles from 
Smyrna. The writer does not attempt to reconcile the two statements, as, 
although one set of scholars have settled to their own satisfaction that the 
river Meles of Homer is the mountain torrent which dashes through 
Bournabat, another group of learned men point to a brook fully four miles 
off as being in their estimation the correct stream : while a third school of 
savants seem as positive as the other two that the true Meles is simply the 
overflow from the above-named fountain. 



54 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



Apocalypse, more particularly alluded to in Chapter XXVII. 
In former days Cordelio was reckoned rather feverish on 
account of its proximity to the marsh, but its character is 
represented as now much improved. At ten and three- 
quarter miles from town is Chighily ("the place of 
shepherds"). From it a fine view is obtained of the 
important twin peaks called " Les deux Freres," and the 
" Smyrna Barometer ; " important, because upon their 
morning aspect depends the happiness of such of the 
citizens as object to carry an umbrella without pressing 
occasion. About two miles farther on, the railway crosses the 
river Hermus at a point near which a stout cable is stretched 
for the purpose of working a pontoon-ferry. Following 
Chighily comes Ouloodjak (a place of mineral springs), with 
a varied cultivation all around of figs and olives, with 
occasional vineyards. Next is Menemen, named after the 
chief of a tribe of Turkomans, once 3000 strong, settled here 
for 500 years, but with the exception of 700 survivors all 
swept away by disease a few years ago. Standing on 
moderately high ground, the station possesses about a dozen 
windmills, and an English factory, where cotton is ginned in 
the otherwise unoccupied intervals of producing flour. 
Emir-Aalem (the village of the chief), twenty-three and 
three-quarter miles from Smyrna, is decidedly picturesque. 

Unseen from the station, yet not far off, is the beautiful 
Lake of Tantalus. An olive-covered plain seems to penetrate 
and run up most prettily into the nooks of the mountains, 
where numerous villages are seen among groves of the 
Velonia oak. These trees are not planted by man ; it is all 
done by birds, which, plucking the seeds from the acorn 
cups, drop them about, and these taking root, spread the 
acreage of the forest in every direction. Ghiaour-Keui is 
the objectionable name of the next stopping-place. From 
an early period this little town has always been occupied 
wholly by Christians, chiefly those of the Greek Church, 
hence the term " Ghiaour." The word, being one of re- 
proach, is now forbidden by law to be used towards any 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



55 



Christian throughout Turkey, so in official documents the 
town is called Hanmteclia, after the Sultan, and it is hardly 
fair of the railway company not to follow the courteous 
example. A few minutes' detention occurred at Horoz-Keui 
(village of the cock) to collect the tickets, after which, at 
the end of little over a mile, the train stopped at our 
destination, Magnesia. 

This town is not the Magnesia ad M&andrum, situated 
about fifteen miles from Ephesus, known as the scene 
of the death of Themistocles, a celebrated Greek general ; 
but a rebuilt historic city, w 7 hich rests on the northern 
slope of Mount Sipylus, destroyed by an earthquake 
during the reign of the Roman emperor Tiberius. Since 
the Turkish occupation of the province of Lydia most of 
the land around Magnesia belonged from an early period 
to a great Mussulman family, having been bestowed by the 
Sultan Aladin upon his successful general Karaman, or 
Carasman, or Kara Osman Oglou (son of the black Osman), 
in the year 1300, for distinguished military service. It is 
of one of these feudal chiefs that Lord Byron in his ' Bride 
of Abydos ' (canta 1, stanza 7) says : — 

" We Moslem reck not much of blood ; 
But yet the line of Carasman 

Unchanged, unchangeable hath stood 
First of the bold Timariot bands 
That won and well can keep their lands. 

Enough that he who comes to woo 

Is kinsman of the Bey Og'ou." 

This rough soldier and his heirs wielded the power of life 
and death over the vast territory so acquired for more than 
five hundred years, and many hideous tales are told of the 
rude justice they administered, and the callousness with 
which they sacrificed human life in connection with the 
most trivial disputes. For example, a story is current in 
the town that on one occasion a mounted Greek trader, 
while enjoying his pipe on his way to Magnesia, was over- 
taken by Achmet, a earn el- driver in the employment of the 



56 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOB ; 



Oglou of the day. The driver, presuming on his uniform 
and being somewhat of a bully, compelled the Greek to 
deliver up the valuable amber mouth-piece of his chibouque. 
Hastening onwards to the town the trader managed to reach 
the Konak, or palace, first, where he laid a complaint against 
the robber. 

" Is Achmet far off? " inquired the Bey. 

On being informed that his servant might be expected 
soon to arrive, Oglou replied — 

" Then wait outside, dog of a Christian, and see the fate 
in store for the offender, should your words prove true, but 
which shall be yours if you have lied." 

Within a few minutes Achmet arrived, he was called into 
the chamber, searched, and the amber tube found in his 
possession. At a sign from the frowning and terrible Bey 
the unhappy culprit was run out of the hall, and immediately 
hanged to a tree in the yard. 

" See, dog of a Christian," roared Oglou, " thus I dispense 
justice ; beware lest a complaint comes against thee. 
Begone ! " 

Such irresponsible power, however, was curtailed and 
finally shattered in the Oglou family, as well as among all 
the other great Turkish pachas, by Mahmoud II., between 
the years 1806 and 1826. At the present moment this 
once princely house has dwindled, through dissipation and 
extravagance on its own part, and envious cupidity on 
that of some of the officials at Constantinople, to a mere 
ghost of its former influence and wealth. 

In Magnesia the distribution of graine was managed by 
tne agent alone, Mr. Griffitt not interfering in the first 
instance ; so, in order to lose no time, we visited the " Statue 
de Cybele " (Fig. 13), sometimes called " The Niobe," about 
four miles off, reckoned the oldest piece of sculpture in the 
world. Arriving at a spur of the mountain we scrambled up 
with some little difficulty, and I got a sketch of this unique 
monument. It is simply the colossal, roughly-hewn figure 
of a veiled woman, carved in the face of a limestone crag. 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



hi 



When near the statue it is difficult to connect it at all with 
a human figure, but a little way back brings out the like- 
ness, and its artistic merit is very apparent. As might be 
expected of a work whose antiquity was unknown in the 
days of Homer, it is much decayed in several places, and 
some contemptible Goth, perhaps by way of preserving the 
stone, had recently been daubing it with coal-tar. In my 
sketch I omitted this evidence of vandalism, as also the 
mural scratchings of tourists, who all the world over seem to 
fancy that in cutting their vulgar initials or names upon 
trees, benches, tombs, or upon a splendid work of ancient art 
like this colossus, they are doing something meritorious for 
contemporaries and posterity to admire. 

This curious relic of antiquity overlooks the vast plain 
bounded on one side by the Sipylus range of mountains. 
Homer alludes to it in line 605 of the last chapter of the 
4 Iliad,' and is thus rendered by Pope — 

" Herself a rock (for such was Heaven's high, will, 
Through deserts wild there pours a weeping rill 
Where round the bed whence Achelous springs, 
The watery fairies dance in mazy rings) 
There, high on Sipylus's shaggy brow, 
She stands her own sad monument of woe ; 
The rock for ever lasts, the tears for ever flow." 

As some travellers in Asia Minor have, through wrong 
information, missed seeing such a remarkable specimen of 
pre-historic art, it may prove useful to future tourists to be 
put on their guard against believing the absurd story that 
the Mobe is simply a singular effect of passing light and 
shade upon the mountain.* It is nothing of the kind, but 
is a very palpable mass of limestone rock semi-detached from 
its parent bed, and is the undoubted result of human work- 
manship. 

Another caution is most desirable. In the days when 

* See particularly ' Chandler's Travels in Asia Minor,' p. 381, where it 
is gravely stated, " The phantom may be defined as an effect of a certain 
portion of light and shade on a part of Sipylus, perceivable at a certain 
point of view." 



58 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



the Oglou family meted out a species of rough " Jedburgh 
justice " to transgressors, as in the instance just quoted, the 
fear of summary punishment, if not of instant execution, 
acted wholesomely upon the thieves, burglars, and brigands 
of the period, and crimes against the purse and person 
were extremely rare. At present there is a change for the 




Fig. 13.— Cybele ok Niobe.— Magnesia under Sipylus. 



worse, and the rambling stranger, although nominally under 
the protection of the Turkish government when visiting the 
Niobe and other sights, had better be well armed, have an 
escort, and keep his eyes in constant exercise, or run the 
risk of being picked up by some of the picturesque free- 
booters of the hills, and held to ransom, with the alternative 
of the loss of his ears. 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



59 



On our return to Magnesia we became aware of a piece of 
cool rascality that had been practised a day or two before at 




Mr. Griffiths expense, but which was destined to bear no 
fruit. Some scoundrel from Bournabat, or one of the ad- 



60 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



joining villages, had already been round all the silk-farmers 
and distributed graine, which the buyers were led to under- 
stand was from my friend's establishment. In this way the 
plausible impostor had induced some of the more credulous 
to take his diseased eggs, and when the properly-accredited 
agent appeared they were naturally perplexed how to act. 
The matter was soon settled, however, by the repudiation 
and return of the bad article, the regenerated graine taking 
its place. Of this about 50 ounces were distributed, which 
would yield in forty days afterwards probably 8250 pounds 
of good cocoons. 

Chobanissa is a small village 8 J miles from Magnesia, on 
the same line of railway. It contains 150 houses, with a 
population consisting wholly of industrious Greeks, most of 
whom have vineyards, and whose wives and families add to 
their incomes at the proper season by the rearing of silk- 
worms. In this place about twenty ounces of eggs were 
distributed amidst similar enthusiasm to that already de- 
scribed. The village itself is not picturesque, but the 
surrounding country is very attractive, and much of it is 
under careful tillage of the kind considered in Turkey fair 
or even good. After our labours for the day were over, we 
walked forth to view the scenery, and lighted upon a large 
Turkish encampment of camels resting for an hour. They 
had been carrying sacks of corn towards Smyrna, but for 
the present were unloaded. The picture was impressive, 
and suggested a grand Scriptural one of other days, when 
the sons of Jacob were similarly employed carrying up corn 
from Egypt. Looking at that multitude of uncouth beasts, 
each with his nose in a bag and his sacks of corn on either 
side, at the little asses which led them, and at the armed, 
brigand-looking men standing around, one felt almost sure 
that the scene varied in no essential particular from that 
earlier one enacted in the days of the good king Pharaoh. 
It was hardly possible to resist attempting some transcript of 
the panorama. Accordingly, I made a rough memorandum 
of it in my sketch-book, with the mighty, snow-covered 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



61 



Trnolus in the background, towering above the vast plain 
and frowning over the ruins of ancient Sardis (Fig. 14). 

On the following day the distribution of graine here was 
finally completed, so we returned to Bournabat to prepare 
for the next excursion, the particulars of which appear in 
Chapter VI. 



62 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOB ; 

-I 
I 



CHAPTEE V. 

THE MULBEKKY. 

Should the contents of the last chapter have created some 
little interest for the subject in the mind of the reader, 
there need be no excuse offered for interpolating at this 
point some remarks connected with the uses and manage- 
ment of the mulberry tree. Of this beautiful and invalu- 
able shrub there are many varieties, although only two kinds 
which have specially recommended themselves for feeding 
silkworms : these are known comprehensively as the morus 
alba, or white mulberry, and the morns multicaulis, or many- 
stemmed mulberry. Some of the other sorts are valued on 
account of their timber for ship carpentry, as the morus 
rubra, or red mulberry, which is allowed to be as durable 
under, or much exposed to, sea- water as the best oak ; some 
for their bark, whose tough and fibrous structure fit it for 
strong basket-work, mat, and paper- making ; one species is 
esteemed for the dye it yields ; another, the morus nigra, 
for its pleasant fruit ; and all the tribe for the excellent 
food the falling leaves make for fattening sheep during 
winter, in countries where the tree is plentiful. The morus 
alba is, however, by far the best friend of the silk-farmer, 
as not only does the bombyx mori, the champion silk- 
producer of the world, thrive best upon its leaves, but the 
result in silk, both as regards quantity and quality, trans- 
cends that obtained from any other known worm or diet. 
Yet, in the face of this experience, long ago confirmed from 
widely-separated silk-producing countries, there are silk- 



OS, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



63 



farmers who still cling to the morus multicaulis as the best 
in their estimation for feeding their worms, particularly in 
the juvenile stages. It has merits, which consist in its 
being the earliest to bud in spring; in possessing great 
vitality, starting from the root with a multitude of thin, 
graceful stems as often as it is cut down ; and in bearing an 
immense quantity of large, succulent leaves, which, on 
account of the shrub being usually kept low and bushy, are 
easily gathered. These good points have been recognised 
in the United States of America ; and at Louisiana the moms 
multicaulis is asserted to be the best and most profitable 
kind, and was in 1884 given the palm for showing the 
healthiest worms, the best cocoons, and yielding the finest 
quality of silk. In Australia, also, the many-stemmed 
mulberry is a favourite with some sericulturists for early 
feeding, and in France and Italy it has likewise a few 
admirers. This is not surprising, as wherever labour is 
abnormally expensive those whose main object is economy 
in production irrespective of quality, and who are content 
with a coarse, inferior article, will be tempted to fill their 
plantations with this rapidly growing shrub, but the penalty 
exacted is the annual risk from late frosts, the leaves being 
watery and very tender ; escaping which the farmer may 
still rest assured that in feeding his worms upon the leaves 
of the morus multicaulis either partially or wholly, except 
during their infancy, he is stinting them of nourishment, 
and voluntarily sacrificing the quantity and quality of silk 
which alone can be obtained from a diet of morus alba. At 
one time it was doubtless judicious in every silk-farmer 
to keep a small portion of his mulberry plantation under the 
morus multicaulis as a provision against premature hatch- 
ings, and for backward seasons during which the morus alba 
was late in budding ; but now that incubation can be safely 
and successfully retarded by the use of ice, the many- 
stemmed mulbery is no longer to be recommended for the 
feeding of silkworms. 

By these remarks it is not intended to discourage the 



64 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



search after better and more remunerative food than the 
morns alba. All that is meant to be conveyed is, that the 
leaves of the white mulberry are at present incomparably 
the best diet known for the bombyx mori. There is a wide 
field open for experiment, particularly in the direction of 
obtaining, through judicious feeding, additional varieties of 
natural coloured silk. Already white, yellow, and delicate 
grey silks have been obtained from Indian worms which do 
not eat the mulberry leaf at all. Northern China receives 
a beautiful, fawn-tinted cocoon, from a gigantic worm which 
derives its nutriment from the leaves of the mountain 
oak ; Europe has its pretty, pearl-grey silk, yielded by the 
ailanthus-fed attacus cynthia ; blue cocoons were got in 
1876 by M. Robin, who dosed his silkworms, during their 
latter ages, with small portions of indigo plants given along 
with their white mulberry leaves ; and by feeding others on 
the leaves of the begonia chica, or trumpet-flower of the 
Orinoco, red silk was the result. M. Ruimet de Tallis, 
about the same period, discovered that a rich ruby colour 
was communicated to cocoons by previously feeding his 
worms for a time upon a species of vine, and an intense 
emerald hue by the use of lettuce leaves ; while in the 
United States at the present time, the leaves of the Osage 
orange (maclura dirantiaca) are being employed for the 
ordinary rearing of silkworms in Mississippi and Tennessee, 
the glowing report of 1884 having been that the silk 
harvested was of the finest quality, and more copious in 
quantity than that obtained from mulberry-fed worms. 
Experiments thus instituted cannot but prove interesting to 
every one, and they ought to be encouraged, particularly 
when undertaken by persons whose after-testimony can be 
relied upon as free from exaggeration. At the same time it 
should never be forgotten that the venerable authority of 
Europe and the East — in indicating the morus alba as being 
up to this date the best known food for the bombyx mori, our 
only commercial silk-spinner worthy the name — transcends 
that of the West. In the former quarter of the globe sericul- 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



65 



cure has been practised for more than a thousand years, 
whereas in the New World silk-f arming is but of yesterday 
Italy and France have hitherto been the chief silk-pro- 
ducing countries in Europe. Both have suffered terribly 
during the past thirty-five years from the various silkworm 
diseases. It is to the latter that the world owes the release 
of silk-farming from those scourges, through the genius 
and perseverance of M. Louis Pasteur, yet it will only be 
necessary in this chapter to allude briefly to one or two 
points connected with the management of the mulberry 
among our nearest foreign neighbours. Hitherto the custom 
in France has been, after the mulberry seedlings or layers 
had attained a suitable age, to plant them out permanently 
twenty-three feet apart ; and experience has shown the yield 
of leaves to be when 

3 years old, 3^ kilogrammes per bash, 
10 „ 52| „ „ tree 

i6 „ m » „ „ 

22 „ 100 „ „ „ 

or, according to good authorities, a fair average over all the 
plantations of 57f kilos, or about 127 lb. per tree per 
annum. Allowing 80 trees per acre, planted at the dis- 
tance just indicated, the harvest of leaves should generally 
be about 10,160 lb. per acre, or amply sufficient to feed 
160,000 worms, the full incubation from four ounces of healthy 
eggs, to maturity. The reason given for such apparently 
wasteful planting as twenty-three feet apart is to admit of 
other crops being sown between ; otherwise, from twelve to 
sixteen feet asunder, the French farmers themselves say, is 
an ample allowance, as the mulberry roots roam in every 
direction to great distances, no matter however widely the 
bushes may have been placed. Adopting the latter figures 
for a plantation intended for mulberries alone, the number 
capable of being accommodated will be from 302 to 169 
trees per acre. That close planting, even in a land less 
favoured in climate and soil than France, succeeds, is 
proved by the experience of Captain George Mason of 

F 



66 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



Yateley, Farnborough, Hampshire, a well-known English 
authority on sericulture, who, in a letter to the Times of 
26th January, 1877, says that ''from thirteen poles of poor, 
light land planted with mulberries, I gathered 1094 lb. of 
leaves," which, calculated per acre, shows a harvest of 
13,464 lb. The same gentleman, subsequently addressing 
the editor on the 6th October, 1879, says, with reference to 
the use of ice for hindering incubation, "I have proved 
beyond a doubt that the hatching of the eggs of silkworms can 
be retarded for any time until the morus alba puts forth her 
leaves, and this may be regulated so as to allow the release 
of the workers from the hay fields before the worms enter on 
their fourth age, when my stock from five ounces of eggs 
requires for food 6155 lb. of sorted leaves in fourteen days." 

China has deservedly long stood at the head of the 
world's silk raisers in respect of the antiquity of the industry 
in that country. According to her ancient authors Si-Ling- 
Shi, wife of the Emperor Hoang-Ti, was the first to intro- 
duce and encourage sericulture and silk manufacturing 
among her countrywomen at the remote date of 2700 
before Christ. It can therefore scarcely be called going to 
an inexperienced source if I ask my readers to turn with me 
for a moment and examine the treatment the mulberry 
receives among a nation of farmers who have been familiar 
with the shrub for more than 4500 years. At page 343 of 
' A Kesidence among the Chinese,' by Fortune, 1857, that 
writer says : " I spent the next few days in the vicinity of 
Nan-tsin, and as it may be considered the centre of the 
great silk country of China, I shall endeavour to give a 
description of the cultivation and appearance of the mul- 
berry trees. The soil over all this district is a strong, 
yellow loam, well mixed and enriched by vegetable matter, 
just such a soil as produces excellent wheat crops in England. 
The whole of the surface of the country, which at one period 
has been nearly a deal level, is now cut up and embank- 
ments formed for the cultivation of the mulberry. It appears 
to grow better upon the surface and sides of these embank- 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



67 



ments than upon the level land. The low lands, which are, 
owing to the formation of these embankments, considerably 
lower than the original level of the plain, are used for the 
production of rice and other grains and vegetables. It is 
therefore on the banks of canals, rice fields, small lakes and 
ponds, where the mulberry is generally cultivated, and 
where it seems most at home. . . . The variety of mulberry 
cultivated in this district appears to be quite distinct from 
that which is grown in the southern parts of China and in the 
silk districts of India. Its leaves are much larger, more 
glossy, and have more firmness and substance than any 
other variety which has come under my notice. It may be 
that this circumstance has something to do with the superior 
quality of the silk produced in the Hoo-Chow country, and 
is worthy of the notice of silk-growers in other parts of the 
world. . . . This variety is not reproduced by seed, hence 
all the plantations are formed of grafted trees. 

" Each plant is grafted from a foot to two feet above the 
ground, and rarely higher. The trees are planted in rows 
from 5 to 6 feet apart, and are allowed to grow only from 
6 to 10 feet high, for the convenience of gathering the 
leaves. In training the trees, they are kept open in the 
centre ; the general outline is circular, and they are not 
unlike some of those dwarf apple-trees which are common in 
European gardens. 

" The different methods of gathering the leaves in these 
districts are curious and instructive, and show clearly that 
the cultivators well understand the laws of vegetable 
physiology. Leaves are not taken at all from the plants in 
their young state, as this would be injurious to their future 
productiveness. In other instances a few leaves only are 
taken from the bushes, while the remainder are allowed to 
remain upon the shoots until the summer growth is 
completed. In the latter case the leaves are invariably left 
at the ends of the shoots. When the bashes have attained 
their full size the young shoots with their leaves are 
clipped close off by the stumps, and shoots and leaves 



68 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



carried home together to the farm-yard to be plucked and 
prepared for the worms. In the case of young trees the 
leaves are generally gathered by hand, while the shoots are 
left to grow on until the autumn. At this period all the 
plantations are gone over carefully ; the older bushes are 
pruned close to the stumps, while the shoots of the 
younger ones are shortened back a little to' allow them to 
attain the desired height. The ground is then manured 
and well dug over. It remains in this state until the 
following spring, unless a winter crop of some kind of 
vegetable is taken off." 

In Eugene Schuyler's ' Turkestan,' page 196, 1 find that in 
Central Asia " Mulberry trees are raised from seed planted 
in May and June. In a year's time the young trees are five 
feet high, and as thick as the little finger, when they are 
thinned and transplanted, all not required being used for 
feeding the worms. In the second or third year they are 
grafted, and the next year produce fruit. When used for 
silkworms it is common, instead of stripping small twigs, to 
cut off huge branches, reducing the tree to a pollard." 

Coming now to the latest experience of probably the most 
successful silk-farmer of the present day, the following few 
remarks are given by permission and almost in the words of 
Mr. John Griffltt of Bournabat, near Smyrna, in reference 
to mulberry rearing : — When the morus alba is grown from 
seed it is recognised among sericulturists as the wild 
mulberry to distinguish it from grafted trees. Its leaves 
are large, soft, irregularly notched, and are of greatly 
varying shapes — some kinds resembling those of the vine 
in general appearance, others are like the fig, one sort at a 
little distance might be mistaken for the alder, another 
variety for the plane, and yet another resembles the leaf of 
the rose, although much larger. But whatever be the 
particular kind, wild leaves in a dry condition — that is free 
from rain, dew, or other surface moisture — shredded more 
or less finely with a suitable knife (see Fig. 18) — under 
circumstances of perfect cleanliness, form the best known 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



69 



food for the first three ages of the hombyx mori. The 
leaves of the wild tree are less watery than those of the 
grafted mulberry, and are relatively more nourishing. In 
Asia Minor, as elsewhere, there are three ways of obtaining 
the wild mulberry — by seed, by cuttings, and by layering. 

Seedlings. 

During the months of March and April, seed, from the 
best large-leaved specimens within reach, is sown in drills 
in well cultivated soil, and the young plants carefully 
watered every morning early through the period of summer 
heat. To afford temporary protection against the sun's 
power in a country where Fahrenheit's thermometer for 
several months often indicates 96, deg. in the shade, rows of 
hemp or corn are grown on the southern side of the drills, 
when, should proper care have been exercised, the seedlings 
will have reached the height by autumn of 18 inches. Ere 
winter has set in the plants intended to be grafted are 
removed into a roomy green-house and transplanted in rows 
three feet apart and eighteen inches from each other. The 
operation is performed in August, when the plants are 
budded or grafted as low on the stem as possible, and in 
the course of the following March such plants as have 
succeeded are cut down to the scions, while those which 
may have failed are regrafted the following month. When 
successfully treated the grafted seedlings may be removed 
outside about the end of the second year to the position in 
the plantation they are permanently to occupy. 

Cuttings. 

In February, when the sap is rising, but before the buds 
appear, the finest-looking branches of the previous year's 
growth are chosen belonging to trees which had produced 
large and shapely leaves. These branches are divided into 
short lengths, so that each slip shall have three likely buds 



70 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



or eyes. The twigs are planted sloping, twelve inches 
apart, in good, well- wrought, well-drained land, leaving only 
one bud or eye above the ground. All weeds are removed 
and kept down, when, under ordinary circumstances, the 
plants may be conveyed to their appointed places next year, 
or that following. 

Layering. 

Whenever practicable, layering is considered much the 
best way to multiply the morns alba. During winter a 
vigorous grafted tree of five years' standing is cut down 
nearly to the insertion of the scion, when, about the middle 
of February, numerous shoots will spring from the mutilated 
trunk, each of which should be bent downwards, slit at the 
elbow, and buried in a mound of earth raised for the 
purpose. In a year or so, the layers will have protruded 
roots and be sufficiently self-dependent to endure severance 
from the parent tree, and to bear removal to the plantation. 

Having obtained young mulberry bushes by either or all 
of these methods, the quickest way to secure a large crop of 
leaves is to form hedges with strong plants of a year's 
growth. They should be placed in prepared soil two feet 
apart, care being taken that the roots are not injured, and 
the stems require to be left protruding twelve inches. 
Next year the leaves may be gathered for silkworm feeding, 
after which the stems should be reduced to their original 
length of one foot, or even cut down to a level with the 
surface. By such treatment the plants are encouraged to 
produce fresh and numerous shoots, generally before autumn. 
The system of pruning, of which the above may be con- 
sidered the first year's share, is that universally adopted in 
France. It is highly recommended by Mr. Griffitt, who has 
also furnished the originals of the following sketches 
(Fig. 15), showing to what extent the operation should be 
conducted for four years. 

It may happen that from various causes a scarcity of 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



71 



mulberry leaves occurs in a silk-farming district which will 
affect the harvest much in the same manner as if disease 



Pruning the Mulberry 




First Year 




S eco n d Year 




Third Year 




F ig. 15.— Method of Pruning the Mulberry during four Years. 



were present. In China such a disaster has never been con- 
spicuous, as such enormous breadths of land have from 
remote antiquity been under mulberry cultivation. In that 



72 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOB ; 



country it is the custom for many persons to grow the tree 
extensively, but not to rear silkworms. Under these cir- 
cumstances, when the hatching time approaches, immense 
quantities of leaves are hurried into the nearest market for 
immediate sale ; and the growers are at all times ready to 
contract for the season to supply the farmers at an overhead 
price or at that of the day. It thus happens that in an 
undulating country, as China is, a blight occurring at one 
plantation may be quite unfelt quarter of a mile off, and 
a failure at a few spots has little or no effect upon the supply 
and price of leaves, or upon the progress of the industry. 

Another good feature may be noted. The isolation of the 
plantations from the rnagnaneries, or nurseries of worms, 
has doubtless been the means of preserving the Chinese 
silk enterprise so long, from the full power of the various 
infectious worm diseases, which for thirty-five years ravaged 
the silk farms of Europe and Asia Minor, and to which her 
want of scientific skill is now exposing her a helpless 
victim. In the formerly great silk-producing districts of 
Kwangtung, Chekiang, Howquang, Kiangsi, Szechuan, and 
Kiangnan, the surface of the earth for hundreds of square 
miles is covered with millions of mulberry shrubs and trees, 
and as China is intersected in every direction with an 
intricate network of rivers, creeks, and canals, the market- 
places of the towns near the principal seats of silkworm 
rearing used to be lively scenes every morning before dawn. 

For six weeks or two months mulberry leaves were almost 
the only merchandise offered, and the voices of the growers 
and silk-farmers engaged in a continual wrangle of trade, 
nearly the only sounds heard. Now, much of this bustle of 
busy commercial life is hushed, as China, having inherited 
the devastating maladies of Europe without the genius of a 
Pasteur to combat them, will probably sink year by year 
under the infliction until the silk industry of that vast 
country is extinguished. Meanwhile, her judicious system 
of separating her mulberry farming from her silk pro- 
duction had evidently so far saved her trade, and put off 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



73 



the evil day for at least thirty-five years ; thus affording a 
lesson to sericulturists in other parts of the world which 
should not be forgotten. 

But a partial leaf-famine may occur, as was the case 
during 1885 at Bournabat and other villages near Smyrna 
in Asia Minor, from an entirely different cause, with which 
blight had nothing to do. In that locality, through the 
long continuance of the various worm diseases, vast numbers 
of mulberries had become utterly neglected or destroyed ; 
still, those which remained had hitherto proved sufficient 
for the greatly reduced demands of the sericulturists. 
Through the almost herculean and untiring efforts of Mr. 
John G-riffitt, those diseases had been latterly as nearly as 
possible overcome, consequently, as there were hardly any 
deaths among the worms hatched from the eggs he furnished, 
such a vast army of hungry creatures arrived at maturity, 
that ere the season was over they had eaten up almost every 
green thing. Thus there was in a sense a mulberry-leaf 
famine in that interesting neighbourhood, yet one easily 
provided against in future. 

With the view of rendering the rearer of silkworms to 
some extent independent of scarcity, or tiding him over 
very backward seasons, it has been recommended to dry and 
powder each season's overplus leaves and preserve the result 
in closed jars. The experiment was tried some years ago, 
and it was found that when slightly moistened the mulberry- 
leaf dust was eaten by the worms with avidity. A later 
suggestion, of a more practical nature for sericulture on a 
large scale, was put in practice with success by a silk pro- 
ducer in Lombardy recently, and is detailed in the ' Journal 
of the Society of Arts ' of 28th August, 1885, at page 981. 
This silk-fariMer, applying the ensilage principle ( which has 
proved a valuable mode of preserving green fodder for the 
winter consumption of cattle), made up a compressed bale of 
116 kilogrammes (about 255 lb.) of mulberry leaves, and on 
the 23rd May addressed it to Milan. Through some over- 
sight or carelessness on the part of the railway officials the 



74 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



package did not reach its destination for more than a week, 
when it was found that, except two inches in thickness 
round the outside, the leaves turned out sweet and fresh ; the 
outside leaves even, although a little faded, were considered 
not unfit for food. 

By one or other or both these methods, united to an in- 
creased acreage of mulberry plantations, both in Asia Minor 
and other silk-producing countries, future leaf famines could 
not fail to be greatly mitigated, if not wholly averted, and 
the attractive and once flourishing industry of sericulture 
placed in the position it ought to occupy. 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



75 



CHAPTER VI. 

GRAINE DISTRIBUTION. 

The principal theatre of graine distribution each season in 
this part of Asia Minor is, as might be expected, in the 
neighbourhood of Mr. Griffiths charming residence at the 
prettily situated and healthy village of Bournabat, about 
four and a half miles by rail from Smyrna. It was here 
that during many long and anxious years the various 
silkworm diseases had been combated and throttled one by 
one by the aid of science — the dissecting knife, the mortar, 
the microscope, and latterly by following up the brilliant 
discoveries of M. L. Pasteur, of the Institute of France. As 
might also be anticipated, the small farmers, the olive and 
vine growers, and the peasantry of this district being 
constantly under the eye of the master, their annual silk 
results have generally transcended those of their compatriots 
in more distant places, both in quantity and quality. 
Under these circumstances it would seem to follow as a 
natural sequence of events that at Bournabat, as the end of 
March approaches, the demands for Mr. Griffitt's regenerated 
graine would be correspondingly copious ; and so they are. 

About eight o'clock of the morning upon which it had 
been previously announced that the distribution of silk- 
worms' eggs would occur, the house was literally besieged 
by a throng of old and young, from far and near, diversely 
dressed, and presenting a variety of feature and deportment 
which would have delighted the heart of the most fastidious 
operatic stage director. The occasion was a happy one, and 



76 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



nothing but smiles prevailed, while the harshness of tone 
some people are accustomed to associate with the voices of a 
sturdy peasantry, was altogether absent. Indeed, the melli- 
fluous, polyglot ripple of speech — Greek, Turkish, French, 
English — and laughter which welled forth unceasingly for 
hours resembled nothing so closely as the unpremeditated 
performance of a demure and stately cat walking leisurely 
over the treble keys of a grand piano. If there was any 
item in the picture to be surprised at or to find fault with 
amidst all this strange variety of colour, shape, and sound, 
it lay in the fact that, with the exception of a few Turkish 
women all in white, not one of the Greek girls wore her 
really fascinating national costume, but appeared in the 
unromantic habiliments of Europe. 

Amidst such a babel of tongues it might be thought that 
to keep order would have been impossible, yet no hitch 
occurred. Some of the women got a quarter of an ounce of 
eggs, some considerably more, and a few with special 
facilities were amply provided ; all receiving some graine, 
according to a scale compiled upon the basis of previous 
experience, modified by recent intelligence and cross- 
examination. Taken singly, the natural propensity to 
exaggerate might have prompted many of the applicants to 
overstate their means of rearing, and thus get more eggs 
than they could possibly hatch and feed, with the view of 
selling the overplus. But, collected in a body in a suite 
of large rooms, their flights of fancy were kept from soaring 
too high by the wholesome check of one another's sharp ears 
and tongues. Thus all got a fair share, and no precious 
graine was wasted or surreptitiously obtained. As the fore- 
noon wore on some respectable-looking Turks appeared, 
attracted by the high character their women had received 
of Mr. Griffitt's product. They also got some ; indeed, the 
donor sent no one empty away, although in some instances, 
among the stranger applicants, there appeared little prospect 
of a guarantee for their future fair dealing when the cocoon 
crop should be ready, except the known general character 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



17 



for honesty such people bear. By three o'clock the 
distribution for the day was brought to a close, to be 
resumed on the morrow by Mrs. Grifntt and her as- 
sistants ; whilst the master, his travelling agent, and 
the writer proceed by carriage over twelve miles of good 
road at a rapid pace to Nymphio, to open a distribution 
there. 

The drive proved most beautiful, combining magnificent 
glimpses of the Bay of Smyrna, with the ever-present 
adjacent crags, large plantations of gnarled olives of 
unknown age, and orchards of peach and cherry trees in full 
bloom. Having been mostly uphill for fully half the 
distance, and the day hot, the little military station of 
Belcafe was gladly made a halting place for a few minutes. 
While the perspiring horses drew breath and rested, we sat 
under the verandah, and one of the soldiers brought the 
usual tiny cups of coffee, apologising for the want of sugar 
by stating that his week's supply was just exhausted, and 
that the fresh stores had not yet arrived. Although the 
flavour of the beverage was unexceptionable, yet every one 
knows that coffee without sugar is scarcely a dose usually 
taken with avidity. In this case, being very strong, it was 
correspondingly nauseous, yet we all three swallowed it as if 
we liked it, with a trio of deceptive smiles, and the word of 
thanks — " f-acharisto." The intention of the poor Turkish 
soldier was kindly and well meant, even if he saw the 
prospect of a " metalique " or two afterwards, so why 
should we spoil his pleasure by a refusal or making a wry 
face ? 

Picturesquely mountainous, the approach to Nymphio 
proved both beautiful and grand. Not far from the little town 
we passed the ruins of a Byzantine castle or palace built by 
the Emperor Andronicus the younger. It is a quadrangular 
pile of the twelfth century, of no great area, although lofty, 
and is at present surrounded by a cherry orchard which on 
this occasion was gay with blossoms. It is said that the 
whole district has from remote antiquity been famed for its 



78 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



fruit and grapes, vast quantities of which are annually 
produced ; indeed, the preparation of raisins and wine form 
the chief industries among the resident Greeks. 

As is usual with true knights of the box and whip, our jehu 
brightened up and pulled his horses well together on reach, 
ing the outskirts, prancing up the main street in thoroughly 
orthodox style, and stopping at an open space before a 
coffee-house, where we dismounted. There was a crowd of 
eager and willing hands ready in a moment to carry off the 
contents of the carriage to the house appropriated to our 
use ; thither we walked up a narrow and tortuous lane with 
many a mysterious turn and twist, not sorry to welcome its 
coolness, as contrasted with the vehement sunbeams outside. 
The house belonged to a relative of Mr. Griffitt's agent, and 
proved very comfortable, and the inmates hospitable. From 
the verandah a most enchanting view was obtained of the 
Acropolis-crowned heights and part of the upper village, 
the rough delineation of which occupied the writer very 
agreeably, whilst the townspeople flocked upstairs in a seem- 
ingly endless stream to participate in the distribution. 

Notwithstanding the precautions taken to retard prema- 
ture hatching, it was found that a few of the eggs in some 
of the boxes had incubated during the drive, and the lively 
little worms were wriggling vigorously through the minute 
pin-holes punched in the lids for ventilation ; but as we had 
now got into a colder atmosphere no more precocious life 
appeared. 

With the exception of a short pause for refreshment, the 
distribution of eggs proceeded uninterruptedly as long as 
the daylight lasted. Night however set in suddenly, as in 
those Oriental parts there is scarcely any twilight, so the 
amiable young Greek housewife, thinking it time that my 
boots should come off, courteously brought a pair of 
handsomely-embroidered slippers, and merry was the laugh 
all round when I, in thanking her, pointed out that they 
were about an inch too short for my vast Scottish feet. 
After a while the doctor of the town came to call, M. Michil 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



79 



Theologheithis, a native of the beautiful island of Mytilene, 
in the Archipelago. He most kindly offered to accompany 
me on the morrow upon any excursion that might be fixed, 
recommending particularly a ride to the rock-carved figure 
of Sesostris, some twelve miles up among the mountains — a 
suggestion which coincided exactly with a programme 
already decided on. 




Fig. 16.— Sesostris. Ntmphio. 



Doctors, like other human beings, have their little 
grievances and disappointments. Among other complaints 
this entirely amiable and good-natured surgeon made was, 
that he represented in his own person a specimen of one 
who had successfully performed the feat of stepping out of 
the frying-pan into the fire. Had he stopped at that point 
I should not have been much wiser, as I felt that exercises 



80 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 

of that unprofitable nature were far from being uncommon 
at home, and that I could not plead ignorance of some such 
achievements myself. He added, however, that, on the 
completion of his professional studies at Athens, he had left 
his beautiful Mitylenian home, where people were seldom 
ill, for the almost equally lovely town of Nymphio, where 
no one appeared to die, and so had hitherto experienced but 
scant openings for the practice of the healing art. His 
remarks, it was afterwards learned, were well deserved, as 
this neighbourhood is considered one of the healthiest in 
Asia Minor. 

Hardly had dressing been completed the following 
morning and we were about to breakfast at half-past six,' 
when an extremely ancient dame, very shrivelled and 
wrinkled, was announced. She came stoutly into the room 
without either crutch, stick, or other assistance, and 
defiantly laid down on the table a box of graine her 
daughter had received the day before, with the demand 
that another one should be given her in place of it. Some 
time was lost in eliciting the nature of her grievance, as she 
seemed to labour under the strange disability of perfect 
belief in Mr. Griffiths honesty and fair dealing, overpowered, 
or rather temporarily overshadowed, by a feeling of intense 
suspicion of that particular little orange-coloured box. It 
was in vain pointed out to her that the box and its contents 
were in every respect the same as the others, many of which 
remained in the baskets for the day's distribution. " No," 
she asserted, " the spell was omitted, no good could follow." 
At this moment the superstitious old lady's grandson came 
upon the scene, and pointed out that the flaw lay in the 
absence of Mr. Griffitt's signature from the lid of the box. 
In former years it had always been there, it was absent now, 
consequently the graine, in his supicious relative's estima- 
tion, must be bad, or at least inferior. Here the voluble 
complainant herself struck in. The eggs she had received, 
she said, during previous years from Mr. Griffltt had always 
turned out well ; but the name of the master, like the seal 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



81 



of Solomon on the tin containing the genii, had been on 
the lid. The good effect was clearly traceable to the potent 
cause; one was absolutely necessary to the other. With- 
out the signature there could be no crop of silk, as without 
the seal the malignant spirit would long before have been 
released from his little metallic prison to trouble mankind. 
In some such way the old lady held forth, and quietness 
and peace were only restored by her being allowed to select 
another box upon which the talisman appeared. 

There were other episodes enacted in the course of the 
day — some amusing, some affecting, and all instructive — 
which clearly went to show what a good work Mr. Griffitt is 
doing in Asia Minor. The lame and the halt came and got 
their little donations and went away joyous. No less 
eagerly came the healthy and strong. For all there was a 
smiling welcome and a kindly word. 

The town of Nymphio is about equally divided between 
Turks and members of the Greek Church, containing about 
350 houses of each community, or a total of some 4000 
persons ; to see something of which Mr. Griffitt and I sallied 
forth after a light breakfast of hot goats' milk, brown bread, 
and eggs. Later in the day, when the distribution was 
finished, I had an opportunity of seeing the sources of a tur- 
bulent little mountain torrent which tumbles impetuously 
through a narrow valley of a mile or two in length, turning 
eight flour-mills during its headlong course. It originates in 
four copious springs welling out not far from each other from 
the limestone rock, and, after providing the means of liveli- 
hood for as jolly a set of millers as are to be found any- 
where, gushes onwards a pure, cold, refreshing, never-failing 
stream, through the picturesque little town, to irrigate the 
gardens and fields on the plain beneath. I would willingly 
have lingered here an hour or two to make studies of the 
fountains, the rocks, the splendid trees just bursting into 
verdure, the mills, and of the jolly millers themselves, but 
our Greek guides were inexorable ; they said there was 
something on the top of the hill really worth seeing, and 

G 



82 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



thither we went. It was the ruins of the ancient Acropolis 
— an immense Byzantine fortress, of which only a few 
crumbling walls and towers of great thickness remain. I 
was sorry afterwards that I had surrendered my own judg- 
ment, for, grand and even picturesque as the old castle 
proved to be, the pictorial riches near the noisy brook below 
were out of all proportion greater. 

Meanwhile it had been intimated to the Turkish authori- 
ties, in the person of the Mudir of Nymphio, that the doctor 
and the writer proposed to ride into the mountain district 
on the morrow. In the evening this high official replied to 
Mr. Griffitt most courteously, stating that horses and a guard 
of four soldiers would be in waiting for us at eight o'clock. 
We went at the hour appointed, had an interview with the 
Mudir, accompanied with coffee and much tobacco-smoke, 
and at nine precisely mounted our prancing steeds and were 
off. We were a curious-looking party as we threaded the 
tortuous lanes in single file, splashing onwards through the 
copious mud which an early morning deluge had produced. 
First went two skirmishers on foot a few hundred yards 
ahead, followed by the turban ed officer in command in 
blue, mounted on a handsome chestnut, across the neck 
of which his short, handy, loaded rifle rested. Next came 
the writer, then the doctor, equally well-mounted on high- 
peaked saddles, out of which it seemed as if nothing short 
of an earthquake could dislodge the riders, whilst the rear 
was defended by another bold cavalry-man similar to the 
first, except that he wore the simple red fez, and had no 
embroidery on his uniform. The whole four, infantry and 
cavalry, were active, wiry, determined-looking, yet exceed- 
ingly pleasant-featured fellows, and the manner in which 
they managed their arms and horses showed that they knew 
what they were about, and were accustomed to take care of 
themselves and others. Thus we went forth into the 
mountains, amidst scenes which from the dawn of human 
history have been associated with war and carnage, robbery 
and crime, and among the very rocks which ages ago 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



83 



echoed the tread of hostile Persian, Greek, Eoman, and 
Goth, and where in later times the mere vulgar brigand 
levied his ruthless toll. 

At first the path wound in and out of fields, through 
vineyards and olive plantations, hut soon got to the compara- 
tively open country. Occasionally the horses were wading 
fetlock deep in sticky mud and water, then by a violent 
scramble up the steep bank the edge of a boulder-strewn 
meadow was reached, over which the spirited animals bounded 
at a pace seemingly dangerous, but which to these wild 
soldiers and the hardy quadrupeds we bestrode was doubtless 
only an everyday experience. Sometimes we were sliding 
down the further margin into a brawling torrent a yard in depth, 
anon climbing the other side and tearing through prickly 
underwood and over smooth limestone rocks, the very rapidity 
of the motion and continual change driving everything like 
fear completely out of one's head. But for this, the necessity 
of holding grimly on, or looking out anxiously for soft places 
upon which to fall with grace and comfort, might have taken 
away all appetite for the grand panorama through which we 
were passing. As it was, it soon became evident that the words 
" coming to grief " were for the present out of our vocabulary ; 
so, allowing my particular animal to follow the bold dragoon 
in front without check or hindrance, I had ample opportu- 
nities for contemplating the novelty and magnificence of the 
view. Some of the crags of a thousand feet in height were 
split from summit to base as if cloven by a pre-historic 
giant. Yet even amidst these wild specimens of chaos, 
doubtless the effects of many earthquakes, there was much 
rude cultivation, and the huts of the peasantry, dotted 
among the precipices as well as on the lower slopes, were 
seldom long out of sight. 

Notwithstanding the bad roads, the rocks, and the tor- 
rents, our two skirmishers on foot kept well ahead all the 
way with their rifles at the trail, ready for instant use. At 
length, after about two hours' hard travelling, the base of a 
densely- wooded mountain slope was reached, we dismounted 

g 2 



84 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



and scrambling up about one thousand feet came to the 
colossal rock-hewn figure of Sesostris (Fig. 16). 

This strange memento of the past is believed by some 
scholars to represent Harnesses II., a king of Egypt, whose 
extraordinary exploits may be summed up in his reported 
subjugation of all Asia and Ethiopia. The presence of 
such a rock-carving in the district is explained by the 
known practice of Egyptian and various ancient monarchs, 
of leaving sculptured traces of their presence in conspicuous 
parts of the countries they vanquished. Other authorities, 
thinking that no single representative of any dynasty could 
possibly have achieved all, or even a small portion of, the 
triumphs attributed to Harnesses II., fancy that the figure of 
Sesostris, and others like it elsewhere, are simply heraldic 
emblems of a conquering nation. The same difference of 
opinion extends to the date of this rock-carving, some placing 
its execution at the remote period of 3712 years B.C.; 
others assign it to an epoch long anterior to that of Cheops 
of the fourth dynasty ; a few place it later ; but all agree 
in the opinion that it is the oldest known bas-relief in 
the world. 

The position of the effigy occurs upon the face of a bare 
limestone cliff jutting out from the body of the mountain, 
and is simply a much-decayed carving of a mailed warrior 
of gigantic size in a walking attitude, the right arm and 
hand brought forward in front of the breast, and the left 
grasping a spear. It is interesting mainly on account of 
its age and associations, in no small measure to the pic- 
turesqueness of the scenery passed through in order to 
reach it, and to the splendour of the view obtained by the 
pilgrim when there. After a rough sketch made of the 
rock- etching, during which the two skirmishers took up a 
position of vigilance, with ready-poised rifles, on the rocks 
above, we all descended the slippery incline, remounted, 
and commenced a rapid helter-skelter to Nymphio, which 
was reached in considerably less time than the outward ride 
of the morning. 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



85 



The narration of a tour of this kind would, however, be 
labour comparatively lost, were it not followed by a reflection 
or two. For centuries Asia Minor has borne a bad character 
for brigandage, and an excellent one for fertility. The first 
it was rapidly losing through the determined attitude of the 
late Governor of the vilayet in which Smyrna is situated, 
His Excellency Hadji Nachid Pasha * ; whilst the second is 
not only retained undiminished since St. Paul fought with 
wild beasts at Ephesus, but is being annually augmented 
by the gradual application of modern ideas. The peasantry 
and small farmers are a hard-working, provident race, but 
the whole country groans for lack of good roads, and these 
ought to be provided without delay, in order that the 
resources of the teeming soil may be developed. There is 
an excellent line of road from Bournabat to Nymphio, over 
which carriages trundle with as much ease and comfort as 
they do through any home public park. Why are there not 
more of them ? Where, out of Turkey in Asia, would such 
an anomaly be permitted to endure as that of having expen- 
sive carpets carried on camel-back exposed to the vicissitudes 
of the weather for seventy miles from Oushak, the place 
of manufacture, to the nearest railway station, Alascheir? 
(Philadelphia of the Apocalypse.) During these seventy 
miles, which occupy at least five days to accomplish, the 
bales of carpets, many of them really works of art, are 
frequently injured by drenching rains, the caravans often 
require to pass through raging torrents, and occasionally 
camels, carpets, and men are carried away and half-drowned, 
if not lost in the boiling waters. These remarks are made 
in no carping spirit prone to find fault, but in order that 
reforms and improvements for the benefit of the country may 
be multiplied and hastened. 

* This excellent Turkish officer has, since this chapter was written, been 
promoted to the governorship of Syria, where, doubtless, he will prove 
equally successful in encouraging trade, strengthening cordiality between 
the subjects of the Sultan and foreigners, and crushing the predatory tribes 
who have so long proved the curse of the Holy Land. 



86 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



CHAPTEK VII. 

THE NUKSEKY AND ITS APPLIANCES. 

Something having already been said about the early- 
stages of a season's silk-farming operations in Asia Minor, 
as well as concerning the management of the mulberry tree 
there and in other silk-rearing countries, the next important 
subject connected with this fascinating industry is the 
regulation of the rnagnanerie or worm nursery. In 
endeavouring to mirror this department, I shall again place 
before the reader the views, experience, and as nearly as 
possible the language of the manuscripts entrusted to me 
by probably the chief sericulturist of the day, Mr. John 
Griffitt ; leaving to a subsequent chapter my own observa- 
tions on what I saw of the fine silk harvest of 1885, while 
enjoying the hospitality of that gentleman and his amiable 
wife at Bournabat near Smyrna. 

At the outset Mr. Griffitt says : " I deem it only my duty to 
offer my thanks to the distinguished scientist M. Pasteur, to 
whom modern sericulture owes everything for his regenera- 
tion of the silkworm. Other able men had toiled fruitlessly 
for years in search of a remedy for the diseases which had 
almost destroyed the industry of silk-culture in Europe and 
Turkey ; but it was through his labours and unwearied 
explorations alone, in which his life was nearly sacrificed, 
that silk-farming has at length been able to get rid of the 
noxious and troublesome plagues called pebrine arid flacherie, 
which I shall describe further on. I have pondered M. 
Pasteur's work, ' Etudes sur la Maladie des Vers a Soie * 



OR, NOTES FROM TEE LEVANT. 



87 



(' Studies of the Diseases of the Silkworm'), for years; I have 
gone over all his experiments, which, I hereby testify, are 
truthful to the letter ; any instructions which follow in these 
pages regarding the scientific management of the silkworm 
are based upon his suggestions ; and if my results should 
prove of service to persons engaging in sericulture I shall 
feel amply repaid and gratified." 

Mr. Griffitt, in his documents and conversation, lays 
great stress upon the airiness and cleanliness of all apart- 
ments, and utensils used in connection with the industry, 
and goes on to say — " It is essential to the health of 
human beings that their habitations should be kept free 
from noxious vapour, so in the case of silkworms pure air 
is indispensable. When an education is small this is easily 
managed by the same means we should use in our private 
houses; but on a large scale the power of renewing the 
atmosphere of the nursery rapidly by means of valved 
openings to the outer air on all sides, above, and below, is 
necessary, as, notwithstanding the utmost vigilance and 
activity in maintaining cleanliness on the part of the 
educators and their assistants, the copious evacuations of 
say 240,000 vigorous worms would soon, without abundant 
ventilation and the presence of disinfectants, render the 
magnanerie unbearable. 

" It is desirable, also, to have the power of quickly heating 
the nursery at the commencement of a silk season, and of 
maintaining the temperature at a regular uniform pitch, yet 
keeping always in view that after incubation any abrupt 
change, either up or down, as indicated by the thermometer, 
is apt to cause the troublesome disease named flacherie. 
When a cast-iron stove is used without modification, it 
usually emits too violent a degree of heat, which quickly 
subsides as the fire burns low or dies out ; consequently, such 
a stove ought to be surrounded and covered with suitable 
bricks built without mortar, the whole being placed in the 
centre of the apartment and sufficiently distant from the 
stands and frames, or other woodwork, to prevent all risk 



88 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



from fire. Thus arranged, the heating apparatus affords a 
genial glow which lasts longer and is without the objection- 
able fluctuations which characterise all heated, bare iron 
surfaces." 

Nursery Appliances. 

" The Incubator. — Educators in Turkey among the peasantry 
hasten the hatching of their graine by carrying it about 
their persons ; an objectionable habit which is injurious to the 
eggs, as, the heat to which they are exposed being unequal 
and intermittent, great irregularity occurs in hatching and 




in use. section. 

Fig. 17.— The Incubatok. 



in the final results. My method for years has been to place 
the graine in thin layers in a room heated by an earthen- 
ware stove, gradually raising the temperature to seventy 
degrees Fahrenheit, care being taken to keep a vase contain- 
ing water always on the stove. For raising worms in large 
numbers this is probably the best plan, but for small educa- 
tions the use of a little instrument about to be described 
(Fig. 17) is more economical. 

" The incubator consists of a cylinder 32 inches in height 
and 16 inches in diameter, made of zinc, open at both ends. 
Eight inches from the top a shelf of loose-textured cloth is 
stretched, on which the boxes containing eggs are laid. 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



89 



Underneath, resting on the floor or table upon which the 
apparatus stands, a night-lamp is placed with a tripod 
supporting above it a vessel of water, the gentle vapour from 
which is necessary during the process of incubation. For the 
purpose of exhibiting the degree of heat inside, and regulat- 
ing it, a little thermometer rests on the shelf, and the cover is 
kept on or off according to its indications." 

" Thermometer and Hygrometer. — In the early stage of a 
pursuit which depends so entirely upon the accurate and 
immediate knowledge by the educator of the temperature 
of his nursery, and what degree of moisture the atmosphere 
of it contains, it is scarcely necessary to remark that no 
magnanerie with any pretensions to be conducted on scien- 
tific principles should be without at least one thermometer 
and a hygrometer, so placed as to be easy of access at all 
times to the attendants. These instruments, although not 
as yet used by the Chinese or by the peasant silk-farmers 
of Turkey, will be acknowledged as desirable by any one 
possessing the slightest smattering of physics, when it is 
added that the silkworm is peculiarly sensitive to sudden 
changes, and is as injuriously affected by an excess of 
dampness in the air as by abnormal heat and cold. It has 
already been stated that 70 degrees Fahr. is the temperature 
at which I have for years been accustomed to commence the 
incubation of my graine. On these occasions the reading 
of my hygrometer (Saussure) has usually been 80 to 85 
degrees." 

" The Leaf Cutter. — This useful little instrument is used 
for shredding the mulberry leaves given to silkworms 
during their first three ages, and resembles in shape and 
appearance the knife employed in producing cut-tobacco 
(Fig. 18). It is fixed to a stout board or bench by means 
of a swivel joint, which permits its movement in any 
direction. The leaves, carefully assorted and freed from 
stems and decay, are held in the left hand, and the knife 
brought down sharply with the other. As they must be 
shred very delicately for the first age of the worms, the 



90 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



edge of the tool should be kept sharp, and it and every 
implement or board used, maintained scrupulously clean, 
as any fermented sap remaining from a former use would 
inevitably cause disease. 




Fig. 18. — The Leap Cutter. 



" Shredding the food for silkworms, however, is a process 
susceptible of both improvement and modification, according 
to the extent of the nursery, and doubtless in large con- 
cerns this will be done in the future by machinery." 

" Pierced Papers. — The most important duty connected 
with the work of the magnanerie is the frequent removal 
of the litter from about the worms. In order to accomplish 
this rapidly, tulle net is used for raising the little creatures 




Fig. 19.— Pierced Paper Worm Tray. 
24 by 20 inches. 



when recently hatched, and the same material with a 
more open mesh or texture, during the first and second 
ages. As the worms increase in size, sheets of thick brown 
paper pierced all over with round holes are used for the 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



91 



third age, and similar papers with larger apertures for the 
fourth and last ages. A convenient size of paper is twenty- 
four by twenty inches, with a margin left all round, folded 
over, and securely pasted to give strength, the holes being 
made with different-sized punches, like those used for 
cutting gun-wadding (Fig. 19). 

" When required, these papers are placed gently over the 
worms where they are feeding, and shred fresh leaves 
strewn on the upper surfaces. Feeling the scent of the 
food, the little creatures creep through the holes, and in a 
few minutes the entire education, whether hundreds or 
thousands, will have wriggled from underneath and estab- 
lished themselves in their clean quarters. One by one the 
papers are gently removed with their living loads of worms 
to spare frames, while those from which they have been 
taken are carefully cleaned, with as little disturbance and 
dust as possible. Any worms found lingering behind in, 
or below, the litter should be mercilessly burnt, as being 
probably diseased ; those remaining simply on the surface 
of the litter may be spared, removed, and fed apart from 
the others, any signs of weakness or langour being noted 
and such suspicious specimens destroyed, as it should never 
be forgotten that the presence of a single tainted worm 
may suffice to infect^ hundreds of sound individuals, and 
blight the efforts of the sericulturist for the season. It 
should also be noted that, when removing the worm-covered 
pierced papers from the frames they should be lifted right 
up, not dragged, and laid on trays of thin wood or stout 
pasteboard for transference to the clean frames. If 
dragged, such of the worms as may not have quite crawled 
through the holes, run a risk of being bruised or lacerated, 
a result which every humane person would of course 
endeavour by the exercise of a little care to prevent. As 
soon as the worms are removed the litter should be 
immediately conveyed away in baskets, thrown gently into 
a pit, and covered with earth. The raising of dust during re- 
moval, emptying out, and in wiping the frames, ought to be 



92 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



avoided, so as to minimise the spread of any germs of 
disease, should they unfortunately be present. 

" The advantages of using pierced papers in the nursery 
are as follows : — 

1. They facilitate the cleaning of the frames without the 
necessity of touching either the worms or the litter with 
the fingers ; most important considerations in sericulture. 

2. Diseased and weakly worms are thereby detected, 
w 7 hich may have escaped the eyes of the educators, and 
their removal rendered easy and certain. 

3. The pierced papers afford a simple and rapid method 
of allowing increased space to the education, rendered 
necessary from time to time by the augmentation of the 
worms in size ; and 

4. The work of the magnanerie is overtaken in a tithe 
of the time required by former methods ; a matter of vital 
importance during the last two ages of the worms, when 
they sometimes eat ten times their own weight of food in 
a day, and when their discharges are correspondingly 
copious." 

" Stands and Frames. — The stands in a nursery are light 
wooden erections (Fig. 28) which support tiers oi frames on 
which the worms are fed. They may be made of any 
length, limited only by the dimensions of the apartment in 
which they are to be fixed ; their breadth, however, should 
never be more than forty-two inches, so that the worms 
upon the frames can be examined from either side. The 
dimensions recommended are as follows : — The uprights 
should be two inches square, with the lower extremities 
standing in pans of water, to baffle the raids of ants or 
other creeping enemies. These posts are placed opposite 
each other at convenient intervals, four feet apart, and are 
fastened together by side bars passing longitudinally from 
one pair to the next. At the height of twenty-six inches 
from the floor, and at similar intervals upwards, little wooden 
brackets are nailed to the posts so as to project inwards 
two inches, to serve as convenient supports for the frames 



OR, NOTES FROM TEE LEVANT. 



93 



which are simply laid on after the stands are completed. 
It is not advisable, whatever be the altitude of the ceiling, 
to have more than five frames in height to each stand, which 
will thus rise to about nine feet. Between the wall and 
the nearest stand, and separating them from each other, a 
space of thirty inches should be allowed as a passage for the 
educators, who ought to have free scope to perform their 
duties. 

"The frames are made of light soft wood measuring 
3 inches by 1 inch, 15 feet long, and 3 J feet wide, to fit 
easily between the posts of the stands, and rest upon the 
brackets. Each frame is strengthened by two cross bars, 
and completed by interlacing wire-work, as in Fig. 20. 

Before being placed in the stand, cheap cotton-cloth is 







j 








- 














I 



















































































































































































































Fig. 20. — Fkajie on which Silkwokms are fed. 



tacked on the frames immediately over the wires, each 
tack being driven through a fragment of felt or other tough 
material to aid in preventing the cloth being torn when 
afterwards removed to be disinfected and washed at the end 
of the silk season. Should the stands and frames have 
been properly put together, and carefully taken down when 
the harvest has been completed, they and the cloths ought 
to last for several years. 

" As regards the extent of stands and frames required for 
an education, the reader will be in a position to make his 
own calculation when informed that, the worms from one 
ounce of healthy grain, numbering about 40,000, during 
their final age, require eighty square yards of frame space, 
or one square yard for each 500 worms. When an education 
is being conducted for silk alone, a larger number of worms 



94 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



may be safely domiciled together ; but the preceding figures 
represent the area desirable when the insects have been 
raised with special care for reproduction, and with the 
expectation of obtaining untainted eggs." 

" The Microscope. — It need hardly be said that no modern 
magnanerie would now be considered worthy the name 
without its little laboratory, and no laboratory could pretend 
to completeness without a microscope and its apparatus. 
The havoc wrought by disease during the past thirty fiva 
years in Europe and Asia has been so tremendous, and the 
loss so great to all classes, that the sericulturist of the 
present and future would be justified in launching into any 
expense, if by so doing he could hope to keep the already 
well-known silkworm maladies at a distance. Fortunately, 
he is not now required to spend his thousands, or even 
hundreds; that has been done years ago by the Trench 
Government, to whom, and to M. Louis Pasteur, the silk- 
farmers in all time coming will rest under a debt of gratitude. 
His chief laboratory appliance is simply a little microscope, 
the use of which will be explained in a subsequent chapter. 
The instrument recommended is made by Nachet et fils, 
No. 17 Eue St. Severin, Paris, and has been produced 
expressly for sericulturists. It costs 95 francs, about 
£3 16s., and magnifies 500 diameters, or equal to a super- 
ficial enlargement of 250,000 times, thus placing at the 
disposal of the investigator ample power to enable him 
to distinguish clearly the organisms connected with the 
diseases pebrine and Jlacherie" 

" Cocoon Steamer. — The last of the silk-farmer's apparatus, 
to which allusion need at present be made, is that of a 
useful machine for quickly destroying the life of the silk- 
moth before it has begun to perforate its silken prison. 
In different countries various methods are or have been 
employed. At one time in China the usual plan was to 
place the live cocoons in large jars under layers of salt and 
leaves, with as complete as possible an exclusion of air. In 
Syria they are spread out on mats and exposed day after 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 95 



day to the fierce glare of the mid-day sun ; in some other 
places baking in ovens, or plunging the cocoons into and 
keeping them for a time in contact with boiling water, are 
the methods resorted to for killing the little silk-spinners. 
Exposure to the sun has, up till recently, been the Turkish 
system ; but as this manner of stifling the insects causes 
loss of time, injures the fibre of the silk, and renders reeling 
more difficult, it is now to some extent superseded by an 
Italian arrangement in which steam is the destroyer. By 
means of this simple apparatus, four large baskets of cocoons 
are simultaneously treated, so that in about a quarter of an 
hour or twenty minutes all the insects they contain are 
deprived of life, a portion of the natural gum of the cocoons 
is dissolved, and the silk is afterwards reeled of! with great 
facility and little waste. The machine consists of a drum 
of zinc made to any size required, a convenient form being 
three feet high and nineteen inches in diameter, with a tap 
near the conical cover to let out steam if necessary, and a 
ring in the top for the attachment of a chain or rope to 
hoist and lower as required. The inner part of the steamer 
is made of stout hoop iron, and is simply a convenient stand 
in which four shallow wicker baskets, each two-thirds filled 
with cocoons to be treated, are placed on brackets one above 
the other. Over the top basket a clean towel is laid with 
the view of absorbing any drops of condensed steam which 
may drip from the inside of the drum cover, and falling 
direct on the cocoons might stain the silk. The boiler or 
pan which forms the base rests upon a tripod of iron, and is 
made slightly larger than the drum, so that when the latter 
is let down like a gasometer into its tank, the bottom will 
be under water, and thereby prevent an undue escape of 
steam. When ready for use the pan or boiler should be 
two-thirds filled with water, a sharp fire of the twigs and 
brushwood used during the education kindled beneath, and 
when full ebullition is in progress the baskets of cocoons 
are placed in the stand, the zinc drum let down over all 
into the water of the pan, and the boiling kept up without 



96 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



cessation for twenty minutes. This interval having elapsed, 
the steam tap is opened, the drum is hoisted up out of the 
way, and the baskets removed, when it will be found that 
the chrysalides have all been killed — a fact easily ascer- 




tained by cutting* a few open or passing them on im- 
mediately to a reeler if at hand. The extreme simplicity 
of the apparatus, and the speed with which it performs its 
duty, has only to be seen to be appreciated. When first 
brought before the notice of the silk-farmers of Italy as a 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



97 



patent a few years ago, its cost was seven hundred francs ; 
a small size, rather less than that described, is now made in 
Smyrna for about twenty-four shillings." 

On removal from the steamer the baskets of cocoons 
shonld be emptied, after a few minutes' rest in the open air, 
on clean frames, and spread out in thin layers exposed to a 
draught, in order that rapid drying may result. In this 
condition they may be kept for years, if safe from moisture 
and vermin, or until wanted for the last process, that 
of reeling, a sketch of which (Fig. 21) will appropriately 
conclude this chapter. 



n 



98 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



CHAPTEE VIII. 

TURKEY CARPETS. 

The student of ancient manners and customs, possessing 
a very inquiring mind and plenty of leisure, might find 
an interesting line of research in trying to discover 
whether the Oriental habit of squatting on the ground on 
all convenient occasions, originally led to the invention of 
carpets ; or, if it was the first sight of the luxurious 
fabric that suggested the peculiar attitude all Eastern 
nations so evidently enjoy. The average reader, on the 
other hand, will probably feel quite satisfied to wait con- 
tentedly until the difficult point is settled, when informed 
that carpets were made in ancient Phrygia earlier than the 
tenth century before Christ. Long ere Homer sang, or the 
prophet Amos denounced the Philistines, there were rude 
looms for carpet manufacture in Asia Minor. In Asia itself, 
and in Africa, particularly in Hindustan and Tunis, the 
story of the industry's commencement is lost in dim antiquity. 
Carpet-weaving being thus of very ancient date in the East, 
it was to be expected that the industry would have reached, 
as it did, a high point of perfection centuries before the 
introduction of either the fabrics, or their method of 
production, into any part of Europe. 

In the British Islands the rush-strewn floors of our 
ancestors held their position well through the twelfth 
century. It was affirmed against Thomas a Becket, 
Archbishop of Canterbury in 1160, as an example of his 
sumptuous and extravagant style of living, that every day 
during winter his gorgeous apartments were strewn with 



OR, NOTES FEOM THE LEVANT 



99 



clean hay or straw. Carpets were indeed quite unknown 
in those days, either in England or France, it being only 
during the Middle Ages that small strips, and the highly- 
valued rugs of Turkey and Persia, began to appear as altar- 
cloths in the abbeys ; and later, in 1301, were laid down as 
prodigal luxuries at the bedsides of the rich. For more than 
three hundred years, few, except the wealthy, thought of 
using carpets to any extent, as, having all to be imported, 
their cost was great. 

Although probably no earlier than Britain in the market 
as a purchaser of Turkey carpets, France seems to have been 
the first of the European nations to commence the manufac- 
ture, which she did about the year 1 570 during the reign of 
Henry IV. The first attempt was made at Chaillot, a few 
miles from Paris, and the carpets were woven entirely of 
wool, worked after the style of velvet, like the modern 
products of Wilton. This branch of the trade the French 
managed to retain in their own hands for about one hundred 
and eighty years, when, in 1750, it was introduced into 
London by two of their discontented workmen. 

In 1765 the Dutch carpet-loom had been adopted by 
several enterprising manufacturers in Britain, and a vigorous 
trade began to be pushed tjiere, in which some French 
settlers joined, under the auspices of the Duke of Cumberland 
and others. A Mr. Moore, in 1757, carried off a premium from 
the " Society of Arts," for the best imitation of the Turkey 
carpet which had hitherto appeared ; and since then the 
industry has spread over the earth and become a local 
calling almost wherever civilisation and manufacturing have 
taken root. During the past one hundred years the typical 
Turkey, Axminster, Wilton, and Kidderminster fabrics have 
been copied and produced all over Europe and in America ; 
and in order that the reader may form a true conception of 
the importance of this great avocation in Great Britain 
alone, it may be stated that there are at present at work 
250,000 hand looms and 72,000 power looms, the latter 
introduced in 1807. Taken together, these may be reckoned 

H 2 



100 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



as capable of producing about three millions and a half 
yards of carpet, thirty inches wide, per working day. 

Notwithstanding all this manufacturing activity and 
tremendous competition, the carpets of Turkey, on account 
of their almost everlasting qualities, their softness, har- 
monious shading, tasteful grouping of colours, and usually 
quiet, unobtrusive effect, continue to maintain their high 
position in the estimation of buyers. Under these circum- 
stances it cannot but prove interesting to ihe reader of the 
foregoing " Notes " to learn something about the production 
of Turkey carpets in Asia Minor, when assured that the 
information has been derived from the Messrs. Griffitt of 
Smyrna, father and son, whose firm has been engaged 
for half a century in the trade. 

When a youthful pair, about to be united in the bonds of 
wedlock, visit for the first time the smiling tradesman who 
is being entrusted with the furnishing of their future home, 
and ask to be shown his stock of Turkey carpets, the articles 
displayed will probably be those of Oushak. Indeed, it 
may be said that the term " Turkey carpet " is in Europe 
almost exclusively applied to fabrics made at that place, 
although two other towns in Asia Minor — G-hiordes and 
Koula — each with a population of 12,000 persons and situ- 
ated within a radius of 150 miles of Smyrna, are likewise 
engaged to a smaller extent in the same industry. There 
is a difference to be sure in the results, but it is unimportant 
— the texture of the Ghiordes carpets is closer, whilst that of 
the Koula fabric is looser than the masterpieces of Oushak ; 
one description of the manufacture, therefore, may be con- 
sidered applicable to all three places, although referring 
specially to the latter town. 

This healthy seat of trade is situated upon a wide 
plateau over 3000 feet above. the level of the sea, in the 
midst of one of the richest wheat and valonia districts in 
Turkey, presenting in its green corn-fields and verdant 
slopes, even during the scorching sun of July, a striking 
contrast to the parched yellow of the lower levels nearer the 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



101 



coast. It contains about 3500 houses, of which 3300 are 
Turkish and the rest Christian, the whole, with the exception 
of some of the public buildings, being composed of sun- 
dried bricks and wood. Oushak is at present somewhat 
inaccessible to the ordinary tourist, being about seventy 
miles beyond the terminus, Alascheir, of the Smyrna and 
Cassaba Kailway, and traffic now, as from remote antiquity, 
is conducted by means of camels, mules, and the despised 
pony of Jerusalem. Although one of the earliest homes of 
carpet-weaving, there is no such establishment as a factory 
in the whole town, in the European sense of the term, the 
work being done in private houses. 

The wool from which the carpets are made is that of the 
fat-tailed sheep, obtained during spring from Turkoman tribes 
in the vicinity. It is washed in an adjoining stream by the 
men, and afterwards combed and spun by the old women of 
the town ; nearly all the inhabitants are thus engaged and 
in the other branches of the industry. In order that the 
various coloured yarns may mingle together in the pattern, 
they are spun loosely, and to this cause may be ascribed 
the blended softness in the colours and design of a true 
Oushak carpet, as contrasted with the harder outlines and 
greater harshness in tone of some of those produced in 
Europe by power looms. 

" A few years ago," Mr. William Griffitt wrote lately, 
"an attempt was made to introduce machinery for wool- 
spinning, but the result was eminently unsatisfactory. The 
carpets produced from the yarn thus prepared resembled 
European goods in being stiff and unyielding to the tread ; 
accordingly, after a short time the spinning apparatus was 
abandoned, and the proprietor returned a poorer, if not a 
wiser, man." The difference, indeed, between an Oushak 
carpet and one made by machinery is of a similar character 
to that which even the uneducated eye perceives, between 
the hazy dreamy aspect of a beautiful and artistically- 
executed water-colour drawing and the self-assertive pro- 
minence of an oleograph. 



102 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR; 

When the fleeces are spun into yarn a local market exists 
for it on the spot, where, every Thursday, from dawn to 
sunset, a crowd of sellers and buyers assemble to traffic in 
the article. 

In former times dyeing the worsted was practised by the 
weavers themselves, as may still be witnessed in Malta 
among the tapestry embroiderers, but at Oushak this has 
become a separate industry. It is also worthy of remark 
that, since the abandonment of the vulgarly bright colours 
in vogue during the reign of a recent Sultan, the dyers have 
returned to the employment of the old vegetable pigments 
formerly used — madder roots for the reds, yellow berries for 
the yellows and greens, valonia for cream colour and browns, 
indigo for blues, whilst cochineal, although not so important 
as it once was, is still in use. Thus the yarn is produced 
in every colour and shade required by the simplest means, 
ere the warp and woof are assigned their positions or the 
pattern and pile are arranged for the weavers, who are, 
without exception, women and girls. 

The sound of the shuttle is not unfamiliar in many a 
British village to-day, notwithstanding the all-absorbing 
influence of the great steam workshops of Lancashire, 
Glasgow Edinburgh, Dundee, and other centres of the 
weaving trade ; but in Oushak, where every private house is 
a spinning mill, a dyeing establishment, or a refuge for 
looms — where every member of the population is an artisan 
and the hum of labour is ceaseless — the music of that little 
instrument is never heard. This may read like a paradox, 
yet it is strictly true, as in the manufacture of those carpets 
it is on the deftness of human fingers alone that the 
beautiful results depend. 

Rudely, if strongly, fashioned, the looms are seen in the 
court-yards of almost every house, standing under the shelter 
of earthen-covered roofs, or protected by overhanging upper 
floors and verandahs. There they remain all the year 
round, open to every wind that blows, and, even in the 
depth of winter, occupied by their industrious owners, their 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



103 



daughters, hired workers, and apprentices, when the cold is 
so intense that numerous chilled fingers have often to be 
galvanised into sensation by the use of small pans of glowing 
charcoal. The looms consist of vertical or slightly-inclined 
frames supporting two horizontal rollers, placed about five 
feet apart, at which the weavers sit cross-legged side by 
side, each working about two feet of carpet width. Around 
the upper roller the warp, divided into two sets of strands 
by leashes fastened to a horizontal bar, is wound, and the 
ends secured to the lower one, from which the work is 
commenced, and on which the finished fabric is rolled. In 
forming the pile and pattern, little tufts of coloured yarns, 
taken from bobbins suspended above the weavers, are tied 
to the warp in rows, the woof passed by hand without the 
aid of a shuttle, when the pile and woof are driven closely 
together with a heavy wooden comb, and the tufts clipped 
short and smooth with picturesque-looking shears, in the 
manufacture of which Sheffield has had no share. For an 
average day's work of forty-four rows of pile so produced, 
the ordinary weaver is paid the equivalent of 4^. to 5d., so 
that if the fruits of a day's industry are not excessive, 
neither is the remuneration. In comparing such wages, and 
the circumstances under which the work is done in winter, 
with the more liberal scale and amidst the greater amenities 
of climatically less-favoured lands, it will be admitted that 
the balance of gain and comfort is wholly on the side of 
the European artisan. On the other hand, the Asiatic 
is temperate and frugal, which too many work-people in 
a northern corner of Europe, which need not be more 
particularly alluded to, are not. 

As might be anticipated, in an industry of such hoary 
antiquity on a spot which has never known any other, styles 
and patterns rarely change. Attempts have been made to 
introduce novelties, but without much encouragement, as 
fresh designs require to be carefully reproduced on a small 
scale, and the weavers lose much time counting the points, 
thereby curtailing the total of their day's work and reducing 



104 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



the amount of wages to be received. On the other hand, 
the regular weavers of experience have all the old patterns 
indelibly imprinted on their memories, and can work con- 
tinuously without pause or stoppage even to look at a model. 

Meanwhile the great barrier to the more rapid develop- 
ment of the carpet, or indeed any other trade in this 
beautiful, rich, and fertile country — this lavish cradle of 
the human race — is the absence of a network of roads, and 
the excessive badness, with only a few exceptions, of those 
which exist. It has been already stated that for seventy 
miles there is no other transit for the beautiful and valuable 
carpets of Oushak except on the pack-saddles of animals. 
Under these circumstances merchandise, deserving of every 
care, is exposed to whatever changes of weather may occur 
during five or six days, as the stately pace of the camel, 
burdened with a bale of carpets weighing 280 lb., slung on 
either side, seldom exceeds two and a half miles an hour. 
The road is described as a mere track worn in the rock or 
through the volcanic soil, and exposed not only to the usual 
storms, out to the melting of the snows on Mount Tmolus, 
and consequently sudden floods of the river Hermus. It is 
understood, however, that the authorities connected with 
the large and important province in which Smyrna is 
situated are now alive to the great drawback indicated. 
Being aware of an evil is the first step towards a remedy, 
accordingly it is to be hoped that the day is approaching 
when the powerful steam road-makers getting into favour 
at home will soon be employed, or that the railway itself 
will shortly be extended to Oushak. 

As illustrative of the strange and prominent part a mere 
carpet sometimes plays in the ordinary everyday life of 
the Turkish people, the following event may be narrated : — 

On the 2nd July, 1885, a relic of rare preciousness in 
Turkish estimation was landed at Smyrna from a steamer 
which had just arrived from Jeddah, on the Red ,Sea. It 
was brought on shore under the eyes of the viceroy and 
governor, and received amidst the respectful and almost 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



105 



reverential salute of a portion of the garrison, their officers, 
and a large crowd of the Turkish population. The relic 
proved to be a well-worn prayer-rug which' was said to 
have been used by Mohammed 1253 years previously. 
Before his death, in a.d. 632, the article had been given as 
a memento by the prophet to a family in Mecca, and had 
by them and their successors been carefully preserved and 
passed on from one generation to another in the same line, 
until the last representatives in 1885 were two young men 
who quarrelled over its possession. The dispute waxed 
hot, and in order to annoy and bring down punishment on 
the head of his elder brother, the younger threatened to 
give information about the relic to the sherif, who, he 
believed, would instantly seize the sacred treasure and 
perhaps levy a fine. Not to be circumvented, but quite 
alive to the danger of his brother's menace, the holder of 
the carpet determined that if it must be delivered up it 
should only be to the Sultan himself at Constantinople. 
Accordingly, collecting his proofs together, he quietly 
slipped away from Mecca with the rug carefully packed, 
except one corner left visible, and reached Smyrna on the 
date already indicated. By some means not divulged at the 
time, the nature of the man's mission was communicated to 
the governor, who, along with the viceroy of the province and 
a large number of officials and soldiers, were in waiting on 
the pier when the steamer arrived. The rug was desired 
to be landed, so that the townspeople and neighbourhood 
might share in the good influence it was believed to carry 
in its substance, and in order that it might in turn be 
benefited by an ecclesiastical benediction at one of the 
mosques ere continuing its journey to Constantinople. 
This programme was carried out ; the relic was taken 
ashore amidst an imposing military display, the donor 
conveying the package on his head some distance. It was 
then transferred to the head of an official of some rank, 
then to another still higher in the service, and so on, rising 
up the ladder of promotion until it reached the viceroy, 



106 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



who also for a little way bore the fragment of old carpet 
aloft. The rug had now reached the mosque, where it was 
prayed over and blessed, but never removed from its cover- 
ing, and the little corner left hanging out was enthusiastic- 
ally kissed by thousands of people within the building and 
during its reconveyance to the steamer. This little incident, 
unimportant in itself, nevertheless affords a curious glimpse 
of the hold the Moslem preacher and conqueror of the 
seventh century still has upon the imaginations of modern 
Asiatics. 

It is hardly necessary to add anything regarding the 
characteristic patterns and colours of Turkey carpets, as 
these are well known. In improving these points the 
gentlemen already named have done more perhaps than 
any other members of the trade. As an industry of pre- 
historic date, whose designs and colours have reached the 
present time through the vista of ages almost unchanged, 
it is a difficult task for even the most trusted and enthusiastic 
reformer to add one of his own, or attempt in the slightest 
degree to alter or modify the preparation of the other. Yet 
all that experience, intelligence, knowledge of the people 
and their language can effect, the Messrs. Griffitt, of Smyrna, 
have done and are still doing. The authorities at Con- 
stantinople as well as in Asia Minor certainly owe them 
and their distinguished relative, Mr. John Griffitt, of 
Bournabat, a debt of gratitude which it will be difficult to 
liquidate for, in the one case keeping alive and improving, 
and in the other resuscitating, two such valuable native 
industries as carpet-making and the production of silk. 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



107 



CHAPTER IX. 

EDUCATING THE SILKWOKM. 

The reader who has digested the four preceding silk 
chapters, will not have much difficulty in realising the 
importance and interesting nature of the industry there 
introduced, and he will probably be ready to follow the 
routine of the nursery, from the moment the silkworm's 
eggs have been spread out to hatch, until the harvest of 
cocoons has been gathered, occupying in Asia Minor an 
average period of forty-five days. 

"I have been engaged," says Mr. John Griffitt of 
Bournabat, in an official report dated Smyrna, July 5, 1882, 
to the Department of State, Washington, "I have been 
engaged for many years in raising silkworms, my object 
being the study of their diseases, and, after numerous experi- 
ments, I have succeeded in obtaining healthy graine, which 
is the first consideration in silk-culture. I was induced to 
make these trials in the hope of alleviating for the future 
the losses the peasantry of Turkey have suffered during the 
past twenty-five years. Endeavours have also been made 
to interest the successive governors of the vilayet of Aidin, 
in which Smyrna is situated, in my work, in order that I 
might obtain the moral encouragement of the Porte, but 
thus far without much success. 

" The loss suffered by Turkey since 1857, when the silk- 
worm disease first spread so violently, is incalculable. I 
remember the time when the wife of every gardener in the 
vicinity of Smyrna, obtained from her crop of cocoons a 
sufficient return to enable her to pay for the clothing of 



108 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



her family for the entire year ; but disease swept away our 
beautiful indigenous races, and this branch of industry was 
almost wholly abandoned. Many mulberry trees were 
uprooted, and those retained were kept, not for their leaves 
or fruit, but solely for the use of their branches. There 
were at that time in Smyrna three large silk-reeling 
factories driven by steam, where hundreds of women were 
employed ; but latterly, for want of cocoons, the industry 
had to be relinquished. Presently the Japanese race was 
introduced to fill the gap, but only with partial success. 
It was found that the difference in the yield of silk between 
the Turkish indigenous and the imported Japanese worms 
was very great, requiring at least double the number of the 
latter to produce the same weight in cocoons ; that is to 
say, if it needed 250 fresh Turkish cocoons to weigh one 
pound avoirdupois, 500 of the Japanese race were required, 
and the quality of the silk was found to be much inferior. 

"Some years ago I obtained a quantity of indigenous 
graine of a very fine race, but unfortunately it was much 
diseased. I raised the worms from the moment they were 
hatched, in separate cells, in order that those contaminated 
might not infect the healthy, as it never happens that all 
the eggs produced by a diseased moth are themselves 
diseased, and from the few sound specimens I acquired my 
present robust race,* which I have since continued to 
improve. It is in every way superior to all the other 
varieties I have raised, not only in vigour, but likewise in 
the weight of the cocoon and the quality of the silk it 
yields. From one ounce (of thirty grains of eggs) I obtain 
regularly from 150 to 155 lb. of fresh cocoons, 12 lb. of 
which, taken from the brushes where they have been spun, 
produce over one pound of silk of the finest quality, while 
the loss in double cocoons is only from four to six per 
cent., whereas that connected with other races has proved 
to be from fifteen to thirty per cent. 

"In March I have my silkworm nursery thoroughly cleaned 
* Vide Chapter XIX., < The Bournabat Silk Harvest of 1885.' 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT 



109 



out and whitewashed, while all the utensils are exposed to a 
prolonged sulphur fumigation. Towards the end of March 
the mulberry tree in this climate begins to bud, and when 
the leaf attains the size of a silver dollar I place my 
graine in thin layers in a room heated by an earthenware 
stove, bringing the temperature gradually up to 70 degrees 
Fahr., and taking care that a vase filled with water is 
always on the stove. In from six to seven days incubation 
commences, and continues in progress for four or five days 
more. The last day's issue I always destroy, as, although 
the worms may be neither diseased nor sickly, they are 
always few and weak. Each day's issue I keep apart, and 
to the first worms appearing I give two feeds of leaf cut 
very thin with the knife (Fig. 18) ; and to each subsequent 
day's presentation of worms an extra meal. The first day's 
births I place on the lowest frame of the stand (Figs. 20 
and 28), those of the second day on the one above, and so 
on until all the worms have been provided with quarters 
according to their ages. 

"My object in this arrangement is to stimulate and enable 
the last-born worms as well as those earliest hatched to arrive 
at their first moult together, as the higher their situation 
on the stand the greater is the degree of heat to which they 
are subjected, which, allied with the extra meals to the 
younger worms, equalises the growth of the whole, and 
brings about the desired regularity so necessary in a good 
education. The leaves are shred more or less finely for the 
worms up to their third age, after which they are ad- 
ministered whole. During the second, third, and fourth 
ages I feed my worms four times a day, at 5 and 10 a.m., 
and at 3 and 8 P.M. ; in their last age feeding is continuous 
from 5 a.m. to 11 P.M. ; and when my large nursery is in 
full operation I employ extra hands to continue the supply 
of food all through the night. 

"An important point to be observed throughout every 
education is to give the worms an abundance of space, 
especially while they are still in their earlier ages. In 



110 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



educating for silk only, I allow the worms hatched from one 
ounce of graine during their 

1st age, an area of 2^- square yards, 
2nd „ 5 „ „ 

3rd „ „ 10 
4th „ 25 „ 

and when in their fifth age, I suffer from 500 to 600 worms 
to occupy each square yard of frame space. 

" Another leading feature in successful sericulture, which 
cannot be too strongly impressed upon the embryo silk- 
farmer, is, that the leaves of the mulberry ought always to 
be gathered, if possible, after the dew of the night has 
evaporated, and he should on no account allow superficially 
wet or damp food to be given to his worms. If rain has 
fallen, or the dew been copious, the leaves had better be 
allowed to dry before being plucked. 

" Purity in every stage of this industry is all-important. 
My frames are cleaned twice during each of the second, 
third, and fourth ages ; once immediately after their first 
meal, and again the day before each moult. This is done 
easily and quickly by the aid of pierced papers (Fig. 19). 
The last age of the silkworm is undoubtedly the most 
critical, and its treatment then should be most careful and 
judicious. At this period of its life the worm devours 
enormously, or twice as much food as during its previous 
four epochs ; consequently, the copious litter and free 
evacuations which occur would speedily render the air of 
the nursery impure, offensive, and unhealthy for the 
educators, were rigid cleanliness not everywhere observed. 
In order to accomplish this state of purity, the frames ought 
to be frequently denuded for a time of their population, and 
all the remains of food and droppings cleared away ; dilute 
chloride of lime, or permanganate of potass should stand in 
vessels in each corner of the magnanerie, and be frequently 
stirred during the fourth and fifth ages ; and means should 
exist of continually renewing the vitiated atmosphere with 
fresh air." 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



Ill 



Such are Mr. Griffith's general instructions to the silk- 
farmer, and before entering upon his more detailed formula, 
it may prove useful to inquire casually into the methods 
pursued in France and Italy. 

In these countries the period of incubation seems to be 
rather longer than the average of Asia Minor, as, according 
to good authorities, it is generally about the tenth day that 
the worms issue from the eggs. They are at once supplied 
with finely cut leaves so that as many raw edges as possible 
may be presented to tempt their young appetites. During 
the next five or six days the worms are fed every six hours 
and kept clean. At the end of this period the consumption 
of leaves, according to some writers, will have been from 
7 to 15 lb. per ounce of eggs hatched, when the worms 
pause for twenty-four hours to cast their skins, which have 
become — like the waistcoat of an alderman at a civic feast 
— too tight to contain their increasing corpulence. This 
suspension of feeding is called the "first sickness," and 
precedes the entrance of the worm upon its " second age." 
The old skin having been moulted and all litter cleared 
away, the worms renew their diet vigorously upon an 
increased area, and eat continually for four days, at the 
termination of which they will have accounted for 20 
or 30 lb. of food, and again feel the necessity of larger 
integuments, culminating in a second sickness. For about 
a week the " third age " endures, and on the eleventh day 
from incubation a third attack of sickness seizes the little 
gluttons, after they have disposed of 60 to 80 lb. of leaves. 
On or about the seventeenth day another moulting happens, 
after which the trencher performances of the worms are 
simply marvellous. By the 22nd day this " fourth period " 
is usually completed, and the tyro to the industry will find 
it difficult to believe that from 120 to 160 lb. of food has 
been" devoured ; but if so, what will be his astonishment in 
other ten days, at the termination of the "fifth age," to 
learn that during that short period 1100 to 1200 lb. of 
nutriment has been absorbed ? 



112 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



These figures, from a French source, are, however, 
moderate when compared with the records of the deglutition 
of the silkworm in parts of Italy. An Italian savant says : 
"If, at the first age, the consumption is estimated as 1, at 
the second age it will be 3, third 10, fourth 30, fifth 175." 
Casting about for an actual illustration of this formula, I 
found Italian averages of which the figures are almost 
identical. These state that the worms from one ounce of 
healthy eggs should eat during their 

1st age of 5 days about 7 lb. of leaves. 
2nd „ 4 „ 21 „ 
3rd „ 7 „ 70 „ 
4th „ 7 „ 210 „ 
5th „ 17 „ 1300 „ 



Totals... 40 „ 1608 1b. 



A little further on in this chapter the reader will find 
that even this extraordinary result is beaten hollow by the 
ever-hungry worms of Mr. Griffitt's renovated races, and the 
conclusion will probably be that a large consumption of 
food depends, not only on the temperature and the particular 
breed, but also on the robustness of the race, their sur- 
roundings, and the intelligent manner in which the creatures 
are fed. On this point I find that in the Drome, when the 
entire duration of the silkworm's career of eating is comprised 
within thirty days, the five periods are as follows : — 

The 1st age lasts for 5 days, 
2nd „ 4 „ 
3rd „ 6 „ 

4th „ 6 „ 
5th „ 8 „ 



Total. . .29 days. 

But under the stimulus of greater heat, the utmost 
cleanliness, and more frequent feeding, the ages are shortened, 
and the whole period of education may be compressed into 
twenty days, whereas when the temperature sinks below 
twenty-five degrees of centigrade the time is expanded to 
forty-five days. 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



113 



The European silk-farmer may not have much to learn 
from the Chinese, but on the necessity of copious and 
frequent feeding he will find the practice of the Celestial 
perfectly sound. A Chinese author says,* " The reason why 
the farmers take so much pains to make these little insects 
eat so much and so often " (worms in China are fed every 
half-hour) " is to forward their growth and make them spin 
the sooner : the great profit which they expect from these 
creatures depends upon this care. If they come to their 
full growth in twenty-three or twenty-five days, a hurdle 
covered with worms, whose weight at first was one mass " 
(slightly more than one drachm), " will produce twenty-five 
ounces of silk ; whereas, if for want of proper care and 
nourishment, they do not come to perfection in less than 
twenty-eight days, they will yield but twenty ounces, and if 
they are a month or forty days in growing, they will produce 
only ten ounces." Another Chinese writer remarks that 
the same number of worms which would feel quite satisfied 
with one pound of mulberry leaves previous to their first 
moult will consume 183 lb. during their last feeding inter- 
val, before they commence to spin ; and that at this period 
over all they eat ten times their weight in a day. 

In a work by Debernardi, entitled ' El Filatoresta Serico,' 
the author, who seems to have devoted considerable attention 
to the subject, gives the following precise directions for 
silkworm-feeding. He says that during the first and second 
ages the diet should be three meals a day, administered at 
equal intervals. During the third age the first meal should 
be given at sunrise, the second at mid-day, and the third at 
sunset ; but about the fifth day, when the worms show 
symptoms of moulting, only one meal should be given, in 
order that no food may be left over to ferment on the 
frames. The author is indefinite as to the fourth age, 
merely saying that three or four meals a day may be given ; 
but of the fifth he remarks that the first two days' meals 
ought to be light, but equal in number, and, when the 

* Vide ' Balfour's Cyclopedia of India,' p. 1703. 

I 



114 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



appetites of the worms have reached their culminating 
point, an extra feed should be offered. 

Miss Isabella Bird, in her ' Unbeaten Tracks in Japan,' 
says, " The mulberry leaves with which they (the worms) 
are fed are minced very fine and sifted, so as to get rid of 
leaf fibre, and are then mixed with millet bran. The worms 
on being removed from the papers are placed in clean basket 
trays over a layer of matting. They pass through four 
sleeps, the first ten days after hatching, and the interval 
between the three remaining sleeps is from six to seven days. 
For these sleeps the most careful preparations are made by 
the attendants. Food is usually given five times a day, but 
in hot weather as many as eight times ; and as the worms 
grow bigger their food grows coarser, till after the fourth 
sleep the leaves are given whole. The quantity is measured 
with great nicety, as the worms must neither be starved nor 
gorged. Great cleanliness is necessary and an equable 
temperature, or disease arises ; and the watching by day and 
night is so incessant that during the season the women can 
do little else. After the fourth sleep the worms soon cease 
to feed, and when they are observed to be looking for a 
place to spin in, they are placed on straw contrivances on 
which they spin their cocoons in three days." 

It will doubtless be remarked by the critical reader 
who has digested the foregoing quotations, that material 
differences seem to exist between silk-farmers regarding the 
total length of the silkworm's gustatorial life. Between 
twenty days and forty-five days, he will say, is surely too 
wide a margin ; if the first is correct, the second cannot be. 
Nevertheless the explanation is simple, although probably 
few sericulturists are acquainted with it. The length of 
time occupied by the education ought to depend mainly on 
its object ; should that be silk alone, then the worms may be 
stimulated, by high temperature and frequently offered food, 
to run their course in the shorter period ; but if the farmer 
desires robust eggs for reproduction, or for sale to his 
neighbours, he will keep his magnanerie cool throughout 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT 



115 



the entire period, and let his worms have a sufficiency of 
food without stimulating their appetites. 

I come now to Mr. John Griffitt's system of education in 
detail, and, as formerly, I shall, as far as possible, adhere to 
the text of the manuscript with which he has entrusted me. 
He says : — 

Incubation. 

As soon as the mulberry tree begins to bud, the graine is 
placed in the hatching-room, which is heated by means of 
an earthenware stove, and the temperature gradually raised 
to 70 degrees Fahrenheit.* A frame (Fig. 20) is hung from 
the ceiling at a height of forty-two inches from the floor, 
upon which a clean cotton-cloth has been tacked, and on it 
the eggs are evenly spread out. The object in suspending 
the arrangement from the ceiling is to defeat the attacks of 
mice and ants, both of which vermin are fond of silkworms' 
eggs, and are specially partial to plump young worms. 
When the mulberry leaves have attained the size of a 
penny, the fire in the stove is lit, a vase of water is placed 
upon it, and the first operation is thus inaugurated. As 
already mentioned in a former chapter, for small incuba- 
tions the little box (Fig. 17) is used, and it should be 
placed in the bedroom of a responsible attendant, in order 
that it may receive notice during the night. Into this 
cylinder the graine, thinly resting in card boxes, is laid, 
and over each box a piece of tulle is placed, with the object 
of affording the young worms a temporary resting-place as 
soon as they are hatched, and giving the means of readily 
lifting them without injury. On the fifth or sixth day, 
should the heat have been properly maintained in the 
hatching-room or in the incubator, the worms will begin to 
appear, and in the course of five or six days more the 
incubation will be complete. The first few worms that 
issue have hitherto been regarded by sericulturists as 
merely the pioneers of the body, and have usually been 

* Mr. Griffitt uses several thermometers, but Fahrenheit's is the one 
whose indications appear in his manuscript. 



116 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



sacrificed. This is a mistake. They ought to be carefully 
cherished and reared by themselves, as they invariably 
prove to be the most vigorous of the colony. Indeed, the 
silk-farmer will find it to his interest to impress upon his 
educators the value of these worms, and to reward such 
girls as may take the extra trouble of rearing them to 
maturity. The eggs which in time will result are always of 
robust vitality, and may be expected the following season 
to reproduce all the valuable points of their race. 

Fikst Age. (Fig.. 22.) 

The first age is the period of five days which elapses 
between incubation and the first sickness and moult. 
Hatching usually begins at an early hour of the morning, 
and the appearances are most numerous between six and 
eight o'clock. When the incubation for the day is over, 
say about nine A.M., whole, dry mulberry leaves are placed 
for the young worms to crawl upon, which they immediately 
do, and as each leaf receives a fair quota of occupants — 
care being taken that the numbers are about equal — the 
leaves with their little colonies are placed on a frame in 
the same room. Thus the process of transferring the young 
worms, from the hatching-frame on leaves, and from the 
incubator on squares of tulle, goes on until none are left, 
when they are fed altogether with finely-shred food scattered 
thinly and equally over them, so that all may receive 
enough. At this stage, and during the next two ages, care 
should be taken that before the mulberry leaves are cut the 
blossoms are removed, and that no yellow, or even slightly 
withered, fronds are used. 

Now commences a system of creating artificially, as it 
were, uniformity in the size of the worms, which, if properly 
attended to, is calculated to save the educator an infinity 
of trouble afterwards. This is effected by graduations of 
heat and a little extra feeding. The whole of the first 
day's issue of worms ought to be placed on the lowest frame 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



117 



of the stand, where the temperature of the chamber is least ; 
those of the second day on the one immediately above ; and 
so on until the fourth day ; but the fifth day's worms should 
be destroyed, as they are generally weak, and not worth the 
trouble of educating. 

The feeding should be conducted thus : — 

The worms of the should receive Hours. 

First day three feeds at 8 a.m. and 2 & 8 p.m. 

Second day four „ 7 & 11 „ „ 3 & 8 p.m. 

Third day five „ 7 & 10 „ „ 1, 4 & 8 p.m. 

Fourth day six „ 6, 9 & 11^ » „ 2, 5 & 8 p.m. 

By this method the worms of the last, as well as of the 
intermediate days' issues are stimulated to reach the same 
degree of development as those first hatched, 
through the agencies of greater heat and more 
copious food ; the result being that all are ready 
together, about the tenth day, to commence their 
first moult, instead of performing that operation 
in little successive batches. 

At this period the worms are not a quarter of 
an inch in length, and are peculiarly sensitive 
to changes of temperature ; consequently it is 
advisable always to keep them in the smaller 
room in which they may have been hatched 
until after their first moult, when they can be 
safely removed into the nursery, where the thermometer 
should indicate not less than 68 degrees. 

This illustration * (Fig. 22) shows the progressive size and 
appearance of the average silkworm from the moment of in- 
cubation to the end of the first period or " age," which lasts 
variously from five to eight days, the last worm of the series 
exhibiting its attitude at the first moulting of its skin. 

The First Moult. — Five or six days after incubation the 
first moult occurs, the appetites of the worms having gradu- 
ally decreased beforehand, until their food is left untouched. 

* The sketches of the ages of silkworms have been taken from a sheet 
prepared in Milan aud published at Smyrna, by M. Jean A. Topuz, in 1868. 



118 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



At this stage they attach themselves to the leaves, upon 
which they may happen to rest, by silken threads ; their 
skins shine like a well-packed sausage, and they raise their 
heads (see last worm of Fig. 22) and remain for a time 
seemingly immovable. When the educator observes these 
symptoms in a few of the worms, the usual feed is immedi- 
ately diminished, and the shuffling off of their skins, known 
by the whitish colour of their heads and yellowish hue of 
their bodies, is the signal for the supply of cut leaves to be 
stopped entirely, until the whole colony appear in their 
new attire. In this dormant state from twenty to forty 
hours may be spent, and the accompanying fast does no 
injury. There are always in every education some worms 
more advanced, and others more tardy, than the rest in 
changing their integuments ; nevertheless it is essential 
for the regularity of the industry that these outsiders should 
to some extent be disregarded, and the bulk brought for- 
ward as nearly as possible together. During this first age 
the general temperature should not be lower than 68 degrees, 
nor less than 66 degrees at the time of moulting, and 
the hygrometer ought to indicate from 70 to 80 degrees 
of moisture. 

Second Age. (Fig. 23.) 

The educator being satisfied that the first moult of his 
worms is complete, he places gently over them sheets of 
pierced paper (Fig. 19), each with some finely-shred leaves 
on the upper surface. In a few minutes the whole of the 
hungry creatures will have crawled through the orifices to 
get at the tempting food, when they may be easily removed 
to a clean frame, the papers being laid upon it side by side 
with spaces of three inches between each, so as to extend the 
area. Should any of the worms remain behind under the 
litter, their moulting being unfinished, they should be 
destroyed if few in number, or kept separate, as in such 
cases there is a suspicion of weakness ; and, as already said, 
uniformity in the growth and progress of the education as a 



OR, NOTES FROM. TEE LEVANT. 



119 



whole is to be constantly aimed at. With the view of still 
further promoting this end, the worms that occupied the 
lowest frame of the stand during their first age should now 
be placed higher, and so on until the relative positions of 
the colony have become changed. It should also be noted 
that the allowance of space for the worms hatched from one 
ounce of eggs should, during this age, not be less than five 
square yards, and their food should be presented four times 
a day, at five and ten o'clock a.m. and three and eight 
p.m., consisting of leaves shred larger than during the 
first age. 

On the fourth day after their moult the frames should 
again be cleaned, so as to enable the worms 
to pass through their second decortication «8bgs£ 
under circumstances of purity, when the 
pierced papers are once more brought into 
use in the manner already described. Feed- 
ing should be carefully attended to ; and as 
the worms will have grown considerably, the 
educator, new to the business, need not be 
surprised on finding that they will eat up 
nearly five times as much food as satisfied 
them during the former epoch. As before, 
whenever the symptoms of a second moult be- 

n . Fig. 23. 

come apparent, the supply 01 nutriment must 
be stinted, and entirely discontinued as soon as the pioneer 
worms have cast their skins. At this period the appearance 
of the little creatures is whitish with a shiny aspect, small 
dark muzzles, and their average length slightly over five- 
eights of an inch. This second age lasts between five and six 
days, and for the sake of salubrity dilute chloride of lime, or 
frequently changed solution of permanganate of potash, 
ought now, and through the whole of the subsequent 
education, to be kept in each corner of the apartment. The 
ordinary temperature should be 68 degrees, that during 
the moult 66 degrees, and the indication of the hygrometer 
70 to 80 degrees. 



120 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



Third Age. (Fig. 24.) 



The completion of the second moult marks the beginning 
of the worm's third age, and this terminates when the skin 
has been abandoned a third time. An increase of size is 
now so evident that even the tyro will see the necessity of 
largely augmenting the feeding area. Accordingly, if five 
square yards was the allowance during their former period, 
the worms must now be allotted double the space, or ten 
square yards. The colour of the worms will have darkened 
a little into a greyish tint, the muzzles 
will have broadened out and become of a 
dark maroon colour ; and about twenty- 
four hours after the first individuals 
have ended their moult a careful clean- 
ing of the frames must be undertaken. 
On the removal of the colony to clean 
frames the positions of the worms must 
be reversed; those occupying lowly 
places in the former age should be 
more elevated, while those in high 
situations during the past week must 
suffer a descent in the social scale, for 
the mutual benefit, as already ex- 
plained, of the whole. When the 
pierced papers with the worms on them are carried to the 
clean frames, they should be laid down lengthways, not side 
by side as before, and with a suitable interval between each, 
so as to take possession, as it were, of the full ten square 
yards to be allowed. Cut leaves are then sprinkled over 
the whole expanded area, and the daily feeding should, 
during this age, be at five and ten a.m. and three and 
eight p.m., the greatest care being taken that an equal 
distribution of the food is effected all over the frames, 
so that as nearly as possible each worm may receive the 
same quantity. Unless some trouble is taken in this 




OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



121 



matter, irregularity in size and maturity will occur, as 
some worms, like many animals, are apt to eat faster and 
more voraciously than others, and so absorb during a 
similar period more than their share. 

Meanwhile the litter from the vacated frames should be 
carefully removed, avoiding the raising of dust, and any 
worms found amidst the debris destroyed. 

Five days after the last moult another cleaning of the 
frames is necessary in preparation for the fourth age, to 
maintain purity* and because a few of the worms generally 
commence parting with their skins in the course of the 
following twenty-four hours. When the signs of moulting 
are detected the quantity of food is again restricted, and 
withheld entirely as soon as the pioneers have finished. 
This third age usually lasts from seven to eight days ; the 
ordinary temperature should be maintained at 71 degrees, 
and 70 degrees during the moulting period ; and the hygro- 
meter-reading ought to be from 70 to 80 degrees. 

It is an interesting circumstance worth noting that, 
during this age, the hue of the silk which the worm, should 
it live, will afterwards spin can now with certainty be 
predicted. As the abdominal prolegs appear yellow or 
white, so will be the colour of the cocoon. 

Fourth Age. (Fig. 25.) 

Twenty-four hours after the third moult has ended the 
worms should be removed to clean quarters with a large 
accession of grazing-ground. The pierced papers used must 
have considerably larger holes than those hitherto employed, 
and, as before, the sheets should be laid down lengthways 
with liberal intervals between, as the feeding surface must 
now be dilated to twenty-five square yards. An easy and 
effectual way of accomplishing this necessary expansion is 
for the educator to lift off each paper when it has received 
about one-half its load of worms, replacing it by another to 
accommodate a similar number. In this way the increased 



122 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR; 



area is covered without touching the worms individually — ■ 
a thing to be avoided as much as possible. 

The litter is now removed with caution, and any worms 
found unfinished with their moulting, destroyed. 

Four feeds a day, at five and ten a.m. and three and 
eight p.m., should be given, but the leaves should be 
left uncut and distributed in little tufts of a few on 
each twig. By so doing crowding is hindered, and 
ventilation in the immediate neighbourhood of the worms 

promoted. During this age, 
which endures for nine or 
ten days under a tempera- 
ture of 72 degrees, the frames 
must be cleaned three times, 
as, from the greater size of 
the worms there is a much 
larger consumption of food, 
consequently the perspira- 
tion and discharges become 
very copious. Great atten- 
tion is also necessary to the 
constant supply of pure air, 
with an avoidance of sudden 
or considerable variations in 
the indications of the ther- 
mometer, which, neglected, 
might induce the trouble- 
some disease called flacherie, about which some informa- 
tion will be given in another chapter. 

On the sixth day the last of the three cleanings should 
occur, and on the seventh or eighth, when the pioneer worms 
have started to moult, the supply of leaves should be 
checked, and entirely stopped when some of them have 
finished. During the moulting the thermometer should 
indicate 71 degrees, and the hygrometer 70 to 80 degrees. 




Fig. 25. 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT 



123 



Fifth Age. (Fig. 26.) 

This is the last period of the silkworm's little life of 
gluttony and retribution, and its span extends from the 
fourth change of skin until it has begun to spin its cocoon. 
Twenty-four hours after its old coat has been parted with, 
the worm exhibits a light brown appearance ; it is about an 
inch and a quarter in length, with a considerable dark muzzle, 
and looks in every way what it has really become — the most 
voracious of all known creatures. At this stage the frames, 
on which the last moultings have been performed, must be 
cleared of litter, and the worms removed on pierced papers 
having the largest-sized holes. As the creatures more 
than double in dimensions in the course of the following ten 
or eleven days the fifth age lasts, provision must be made 
for a great augmentation of the space previously occupied. 
Accordingly each pierced paper should be carefully lifted 
when it is one-third occupied by worms, a repetition of the 
process being continued until all have been removed to 
clean frames, and the area covered should be fully eighty 
square yards, or say 500 worms to each square yard. This 
large allowance of space, as already indicated, is only 
required as a precautionary measure when the education is 
for reproductive graine alone. If it be for silk only, a 
larger number of worms per square yard may be allowed ; 
but it should always be borne in mind that the fifth age is 
the most critical period in the silkworm's career, that crowd- 
ing should be carefully avoided, and that any carelessness or 
defect in management at this epoch cannot be repaired, as 
is possible at an earlier stage, and may ruin the entire 
education. In the course of these ten or eleven days the 
worms devour more than twice as much food as they will have 
consumed duriug the whole of the previous month, conse- 
quently the effect of the slighest inattention, which at 
another period might prove trifling or temporary, now 
becomes momentous and probably fatal. 



124 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR; 




Fig. 27. 



OH, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



125 



Feeding should commence each morning at four a.m., and 
be continued until ten p.m., with little clusters of leaves on 
their twigs. The frames must be frequently cleaned, and 
every effort made, by means of the copious admission of 
air, and the use of disinfectants, to keep the atmosphere 
pure, to offer no attraction to flies, and to deny all 
encouragement to disease. The brightest and most in- 
telligent girls in the employment of the educator should 
be chosen, to make a continual pilgrimage among the 
frames, to pick out every worm evincing the least sign of 
weakness or offering to the eye an abnormal appearance. 

Such worms, after careful inspection by the chief, should 
be unhesitatingly sacrificed if the slightest trace of disease 
be discovered. This last age is indeed a period of anxiety 
and of unintermittent toil, during which the attendants 
must be at their duties before four o'clock in the morning, 
and some of them need not expect repose till midnight. If 
during the eleven days the vigil lasts, the girls can manage 
a little sleep now and then, and snatch their meals as best 
they may, good and well ; but they must expect no re- 
creation or diminution of their heavy responsibility until 
every worm has swallowed its last mouthful and mounted 
to spin its silken mantle. 

Shortly before moulting the hitherto brisk appetites of 
the worms seem to increase by " leaps and bounds," and for 
twenty-four hours the whole strength of the establishment 
will be taxed to the uttermost, to make ready the supplies 
for the thousands of voracious gormandizers. The effect of 
this rapid gorging is to stretch their skins enormously, 
so that when the final moult occurs the old integuments are 
thrown off without difficulty. Immediately the ravenous 
creatures recommence, and for forty-eight hours never 
pause from their eating for a second. At this time any 
stranger entering the magnanerie, where the worms from 
even one ounce of eggs have newly been fed, will be 
surprised to hear all through the apartment the sound as 
of the pattering of a gentle shower of rain upon a roof of 



126 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



zinc; it is the noise of forty thousand pairs of little jaws 
industriously sawing the mulberry leaves. 

Such a rate of food-consumption, however, could not last, 
so the tremendous appetite of the worms is presently 
assuaged ; the creatures shrink a little in size ; the colour 
changes, and they become almost transparent. After a 
final evacuation, they seem like little sausages stufled with 
silk of a clear amber tint, and their long feast is done. 
About the seventh day after the final moult, the pioneers, 
having ceased to eat, become restless (Fig. 27) and wander 
about the frames in search of suitable spots in which to 
commence their cocoons ; but the careful educator is always 
j^repared for this last draught upon his industry, as will 
be seen in the next paragraph. During the period just 
described the temperature should be 73 degrees, and the 
reading of the hygrometer 90 degrees. 

Allusion has been made at an earlier part of this chapter 
to the quantities of food devoured by silkworms in France 
and Italy, as given by undoubted authorities ; but those 
performances, one and all, must yield the palm to Mr. 
Griffiths renovated races, whose usual consumption per 
ounce of eggs hatched is 2180 lb. For the sake of com- 
parison, the particulars may be tabulated thus : — 







French 


Italian 


Mr. Griffiths 






average 


average 


average 






per ounce. 


per ounce. 


per ounce. 


1st ; 


lge's consumption 15 lb. 


7 lb. 


16 lb. 


2nd 


55 55 


30 „ 


21 „ 


79 „ 


3rd 


55 55 


80 „ 


70 „ 


211 „ 


4 th 


55 55 


160 „ 


210 „ 


409 „ 


5th 


55 55 


1200 „ 


1300 „ 


1465 „ 






1485 lb. 


1603 lb. 


2180 Lb. 



Mounting to spin. (Fig 27.) 

About the seventh day after the last moult the final 
performance of the silkworm commences, and the ex- 
perienced farmer is never caught unawares, because he 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



127 



knows that the restless movements of the few pioneers are 
but the heralds of the following morning, when the bulk of 
the silk-carrying army will begin to mount. Accordingly, 
a few branches, cut and prepared some days beforehand, 
are laid horizontally over the worms in such a manner as 
not to interfere with the circulation of air, but to afford a 
convenient retreat for all that feel ready to begin the 
formation of their cocoons. In providing such branches 
there must be no protracted delay, as, should the worms be 




Fig. 28.— Arranging the Brushwood. 



unable to discover suitable nooks, they will resign them- 
selves to circumstances and change into chrysalides without 
forming their cocoons at all. Thus their store of silk will 
be lost, with the probability that no subsequent care will 
carry the insects through their final metamorphosis, so 
that no eggs will be obtained either. Having these con- 
tingencies in view, the educator will have provided an 
ample supply of dry brushwood arranged in the manner 
depicted in Fig. 28. 

It will be seen that the branches are arranged so as 



128 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



to form a series of vertical divisions on the frames, the 
bushy or tufted ends being placed upwards and pressed 
underneath the shelf immediately above. Care should 
also be taken that the branches lean inwards, in order 
that any worms losing their hold after mounting may 
fall on the calico covering of the frame, and not on the 
floor. Being heavy with silk, and the latter accident 
occurring, the worm will probably burst asunder, when 
both it and its valuable store will be lost. It happens 
sometimes that robust worms meet with such falls of three 
or four feet, and are picked up seemingly uninjured; but 
in these cases they should invariably be set apart from the 
rest, and allowed to spin their cocoons in seclusion lest 
disease of any kind should follow; and on no account 
should they be reserved for reproduction. 

By the eighth or tenth day after the last moult, the bulk 
of the worms will be ready and eager to climb, and for 
their further accommodation additional branches between 
those first placed vertically should have been introduced, 
the whole forming a series of miniature arches or bowers, 
each about six inches wide. The materials may be heath, 
broom, or any kind of furze ; but preferably before all 
others, branches of pine, in which the worms seem to be 
most at home, where they appear to spin with increased 
liveliness, and from which the subsequent gathering of the 
cocoons is easy. These arches of greenery should not be 
set up at random, but made at right angles as far as 
possible, so as to encourage a free circulation of air ; and 
there ought to be no crowding, but ample space allowed 
for every worm to spin. 

At this important period the greatest care should be 
taken that there are no hungry worms among the climbers 
or elsewhere. When a seeming reluctance or slowness to 
mount is observed, food should at once be offered ; and it 
sometimes happens that a few worms, which have already 
climbed into the brushes and smelling the fresh leaves 
displayed, return to get a share. In every case the educator 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT 



129 



should make sure, before concluding that his charges have no 
more appetite left. Another feature in connection with this 
closing scene is, special attention to cleanliness. When the 
worms have entirely ceased eating, and are on the move up to 
or among the branches, the unusual exercise seems to prompt 
copious evacuations ; and as the thermometer ought to show 
at this period, as well as throughout the formation of the 
cocoons, a temperature of 73 to 75 degrees, with the hygro- 
meter at 90 degrees, the atmosphere of the nursery would 
quickly become unbearably foul, but for a constant removal 
of the litter, and an unlimited supply of warm, pure, dry air. 

In the course of another day or so nearly all the worms 
will have mounted and commenced to spin ; the few which 
remain should be removed to another frame surrounded with 
brushes, and feci afresh at frequent intervals, when they 
likewise will take refuge among the loose branches, on 
which they may be conveyed to the bowers beside the 
others. Even yet a few laggards, sometimes of the most 
splendid appearance, will be found still gorging. The 
sericulturist must have patience with these, and feed them 
as long as they seem inclined to eat. They will soon cease, 
when a basket of wood-shavings will afford them a suitable 
spinning-place. 

Gathering the Cocoons. 

No sooner have the worms found themselves in convenient 
spots among the branches than they immediately commence 
their cocoons, by attaching threads of silk to different 
points of the nearest pine needles. These lines form the 
steadying cables of the nest in which the industrious little 
weaver will undergo its last marvellous transformations. In 
different species more or fewer of these subsidiary silken 
threads are thrown out, to which the name of " floss " has 
been given ; but, being in short lengths and much tangled, 
it can only be manufactured by a carding process, and 
treated in the same manner as cotton, which greatly 
reduces its value. Indeed, whenever the proportion of 

K 



130 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



floss amounts to one-fifth of the weight of the cocoon, 
seen in some beautiful white races and others, the seri- 
culturist had better abandon any attempt to raise them, as, 
in the present state of our knowledge, they are unremu- 
nerative. 

When the floss threads have been arranged to the worm's 
satisfaction, it contracts its sphere of operations, weaves the 
outer tracery of its dainty cell, in a few hours it is hidden 
from view, and, within four days of its commencement, the 
cocoon is complete and the worm is at rest. In the course of 
another day or so it would be perfectly safe to collect the 
harvest, but as it rarely or never happens that all the worms 
of an education mount and spin exactly together, it is judi- 
cious to delay gathering the cocoons until the eighth day 
from the date of the first climber's ascent. Even then it is 
good practice, before taking down the brushes loaded with 
their silvery and golden fruit, to select a cocoon here and 
there and shake it. Should it emit a hollow sound, it may be 
certainly assumed that the worm has become a chrysalis, and 
the whole may be removed ; otherwise a premature collection, 
by alarming the worms, would result in damage to the silk. 

Those brushes which harboured the earliest worms are 
now taken into a different apartment, on the floor of which 
cloths have been spread, when all the dead and badly- 
stained cocoons are picked out. This is a necessary, but 
sometimes a most offensive duty, on account of cases of 
decomposition, or it may be disease. The diseased cocoons 
are readily distinguished by being of a blackish colour. 
They contain a dark, evil-smelling liquid into which the 
dead worms have become resolved, and any of this noxious 
fluid dropping on the sound cocoons will result in greatly 
depreciating their value. It is necessary, therefore, to get 
rid of these unsavoury cocoons as speedily and with as little 
handling as possible. In this manner all the harvest must 
be gone over, and should it be intended for graine rather 
than for silk, there will practically be for the farmer only 
two classes of cocoons on the premises— those which, after 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 131 

a critical examination, are found to be in every sense per- 
fect as to shape, colour, size and weight ; and those which 
fall below the standard. The latter are steamed in the 
apparatus described in Chapter VII., and laid aside to dry 
for local reeling or export, while the fate of the former 
is depicted in Chapter XT. 



k 2 



132 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



CHAPTEK X. 

THE GREEK INSTITUTIONS OF SMYRNA. 

Were any excuse necessary for importing into these 
" Notes " something concerning an estimable and indus- 
trious section of the community — the Greek population 
of Smyrna and the surrounding districts — such a justifica- 
tion is supplied by the date upon which this chapter was 
drafted — the anniversary of the assertion of Greek indepen- 
dence on the 6th April, 1821. Events of a similar nature 
all the world over, deservedly bulk largely in the estima- 
tion of every people ; and it will not be thought surprising 
that a race like the Greeks, once so eminently distinguished, 
afterwards conquered and enslaved by more powerful yet 
less polished nations, on finally regaining its liberty and 
being once more able to hold up its head among the free- 
men of the earth, should keep each recurrence of the grand 
event with every token of exuberant joy. Such had been 
the case on the present occasion. The churches had been 
crammed to overflowing ; hymns of thanksgiving and prayers 
for King George had gone up to Heaven from many thou- 
sands of sincere hearts ; the poor had for a time been made 
happy by the liberality of their richer compatriots ; bands 
of music heading long processions of pretty children dressed 
in white and blue, the national colours, and never interfered 
with by the good-natured Turks, had paraded everywhere ; 
hundreds of men and boys in every town and village with 
guns and pistols had exploded " villainous saltpetre " 
for two days, from " early morn to dewy eve " ; yet all 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT 



133 



passed off with holiday pleasantness, and without the 
faintest approach to a disturbance. 

It is not, however, the object of this chapter to reopen 
the page of Greek history at the terrible epoch when 
Turkish exasperation vented itself in such horrors as the 
roasting alive of the brave Pope Diakos, who first unfurled 
the standard of rebellion; but rather to show how truly 
worthy the Greeks have since proved themselves to be of 
that freedom they gained after so much suffering, and to 
indicate in one direction what progress those of Asia Minor 
have made during the past sixty-five years. 

A census of the entire population of Asia Minor — not 
complete when these notes were made — gave in 1885 an 
indication of 1,052,175 persons, of which number it is 
believed that nearly the half are Greeks, and of these 
71,083 are located in the vilayet of Aidin, of which Smyrna 
is the chief town. The same nationality is also largely 
represented in all the Turkish islands of the Archipelago, 
in the Turkish possessions in Europe, and in Constantinople 
itself. 

Whilst there are doubtless many reasons why this once 
comparatively small people should at this present moment 
be found so numerously, and ably, represented all over 
Turkey, both in Europe and Asia, there can be but two 
main causes assigned for their rapid intellectual recuper- 
ation. These are, their exemption from the thraldrom of 
degrading superstition, and their universal and boundless 
love of education. It may be said that they do not 
deserve the whole of the credit for this ; that, as the 
Greeks of Asia Minor are not permitted to serve in the 
Turkish army and navy, they are forced to cultivate the 
arts of peace. This is a matter of little moment now. 
Their exemption from military and naval duty has un- 
doubtedly led to a rapid increase of their numbers ; but, 
for the widely-spread cultivation of their intelligence, 
and for their again, as formerly, becoming the commercial, 
professional, and artistic backbone of the Levant, we must 



134 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



look rather for a reason to the inherent good qualities 
of the nation. 

To those whose study of Greek affairs has been mainly 
confined to ancient history, it may seem strange that 
this once leading and dominant race should, after the 
collapse of the Koman power, have remained for so long 
a period totally eclipsed among the nations of Europe. 
But a little reflection and research will speedily solve the 
riddle by showing how, as in the case of the ancient Jews, 
war, changes of masters, and long vistas of cruel servitude 
were sufficient to degrade and almost barbarise a people. 
Every schoolboy knows how badly the Greeks fared during 
the fierce domestic struggles of the final Eoman period, 
when their soil was often the scene of the most bloody 
and malevolent rivalry. It is no mystery either, how, 
when a period of settled calm followed the accession of 
Augustus and lasted nearly two hundred years, the Greeks 
quickly recuperated, became Christianised, built churches, 
and became missionaries. Had those piping times of peace 
only continued, Hellas, instead of being, as at present, one 
of the least important of the European family of nations, 
would probably have recovered much of her ancient dignity. 
But such was not to be, for the country became the hunting 
arena for Slavonians, Albanians, and other starved hordes 
from the icy north, who speedily annihilated Greek 
civilisation, so that successive changes of masters — the 
Venetians in 1204, and the Turks in 1355 — only completed 
the national ruin of a once splendid race, whose degra- 
dation, counting from the capture of Corinth by the Bomans, 
had taken 1501 years to accomplish. From 1355 to 1820 
Greece continued under the heel of the Crescent, although 
in 1770 and 1790 futile attempts were made to shake off 
the Turkish yoke. In 1820, however, a third essay was 
crowned with success ; and since 1829 the Greeks have been 
acknowledged by Europe to be an independent nation. 
Since then this resuscitated kingdom has had its ambitions, 
crosses and disappointments, like all other earthly institu- 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



135 



tions. Its first president, Capo d'Istrias, was assassinated in 
1831, but subsequent rulers have been more fortunate ; the 
present King George, although not a Greek, is deservedly 
popular with his immediate subjects, as well as with the 
Hellenic people of Asia Minor. 

In Smyrna some results of the regeneration of the race 
are specially observable in two splendid monuments of 
generosity, which would do credit to any capital of the 
world — the Greek Hospital, and the Greek Schools. 
Arriving in that town from Bournabat one morning 
in 1885, some friends kindly accompanied me on a visit 
to the dignitaries of the Church. I was introduced to, 
and was very courteously received by, Archbishop Basilius, 
the newly-appointed Metropolitan of Smyrna, and Director 
of the Theological School of Constantinople. He is a fine, 
intellectual, dignified-looking prelate of about fifty years of 
age, and has the character of possessing great learning. 
While the usual coffee and cigarettes were being absorbed, 
he asked a number of questions having reference to Scotland 
and its people, expressed himself much gratified at the 
visit, and asked for its repetition at an early date. 

The next call, on the same floor, was made to Athanasius 
Kyrilos, Bishop of Christopoleos, the second in rank, a 
friend of the Smyrna people of all grades for more than 
thirty years. He is a most venerable and kindly old 
Christian, who has spent the chief part of a long life in 
simple works of goodness and mercy, to whom the hospital 
mainly owes its present condition of high efficiency. Being 
well acquainted with the friends who introduced me, he 
received them all with effusion, kissing some of them on 
both cheeks, and stating his pleasure at receiving the 
call. This most interesting old prelate, whose first name 
is Constantine, was born of Greek peasant parents at the 
village of Sevdikeuy, near Smyrna, in 1820. When only 
two years old, his father was murdered by some Turkish 
fanatics about the period of the Greek revolution. Although 
the Greek Christians of Asia Minor had taken no part in 



136 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOIi ; 



the rising, the hatred of the Mohammedans was aroused 
and numbers of the former were slain, among whom were 
the relatives of the little boy destined later to become 
the Metropolitan Bishop of Smyrna. " Often have I heard 
eye-witnesses tell," said Mr. Grifntt of Bournabat to the 
writer in a letter, " of the thousands of victims subjected to 
torture, impalement and mutilation, numbers of whom might 
have saved their lives by embracing Islamism, yet who 
nobly preferred death to a denial of Christ. Much does 
Christendom owe to the Greek Church, which produced and 
sustained in their last agony such martyrs ; and yet more 
to the Greek tongue in which the parables of Jesus have 
reached us. On the death of his (the present bishop's) 
father, a benevolent priest adopted the little orphan 
Constantine, taught him his beautiful mother language, 
and sent him to be educated at the best schools of Smyrna. 
He was thus prepared for, and enabled to enter, the Church 
of the Greek Hospital as a deacon in 1 839 ; was consecrated 
a priest in 1847, at the same time becoming 'Econorao' of 
the philanthropic establishment, which combines in itself an 
hospital, an asylum for the insane, and a reformatory school. 
This useful institution, supported entirely by the voluntary 
contributions of Greeks all over the world, has accommo- 
dation for 360 persons, and is open to every one : Jew and 
Gentile, Mohammedan and Pagan, alike receive its generous 
aid. Difference in faith, or none, have no influence ; the 
sole password for admission is ' human suffering.' For 
thirty years Constantine devoted his whole energies to the 
service of this truly noble mission, and during that period 
its entire management as 6 Economo ' was under his ever 
vigilant eye. Cholera thrice visited Smyrna during his 
term of office. In 1864, when this scourge was ravaging 
the town and the hospital wards were full, I saw the bishop 
attending, consoling, inspiring, and encouraging the sick 
and dying. In 1879 this most worthy, self-sacrificing man 
was consecrated a bishop under the name of Christopoleos, 
when he received a salary of £60 or £70 a year, all of 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT 



137 



which he spent in charity. It might be supposed that 
clerical duties, and the care of such an important establish- 
ment as the Greek Hospital of Smyrna, would have proved 
sufficient to occupy all his time ; but his position as bishop 
necessitates his regular attendance at the Ecclesiastical 
Court, where he faithfully listens to and arranges the 
troubles and disputes of his flock." 

After my introduction, and a second participation of 
coffee, the bishop was good enough to say that I was only 
a stranger to him in appearance, as he had read something 
I had written in his favour in the Glasgow Herald a year 
or two before. A copy had been sent him and translated 
into Greek by his adopted daughter, who had been educated 
by the good American missionary Mr. Hill, at Athens. 

With a total absence of luxury in the apartments occupied 
by these two, each in different ways, distinguished ecclesias- 
tics, there was an air of comfort, solidity, and repose sur- 
rounding them which seemed to harmonise well with their 
functions of daily teaching by precept and example, and 
was not out of place with the seemingly free and unre- 
strained admission of all and sundry whom I saw flocking 
upstairs and along the corridors for advice. 

The celebration of Easter is always held as a special 
festival in the Greek Church, and as that great event in 
the history of the human race was close at hand, we were 
pressed to come and witness the spectacle from a window of 
the residence.* It is an open-air demonstration, always 
commences at midnight, is attended by many thousands of 
Greeks and others, and takes place amidst a blaze of fire- 
works and the firing of guns. To the pastors of Smyrna, 
this midnight orgie had long been a source of grief and 

* The afternoon and evening of the 4th April turning out wet and 
stormy, and believing it impossible that the midnight fete could be held, 
my friends and I left Smyrna by a late train. At the last moment, 
however, the elements ceased from troubling, and the Easter-eve 
rejoicings occurred with all their usual splendour and noise, although we 
were not there to see. 



138 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR; 



anxiety on account of the licence into which it was so apt 
to degenerate, and the danger to property arising from the 
explosion of so much gunpowder, and the lighting of so 
many bonfires in the streets. They had endeavoured to 
stop the proceedings on several occasions, but had been 
wholly unsuccessful ; and I heard afterwards that at such 
times of interference it was the popularity of the clergy, 
and particularly of the bishop, which alone saved the 
ecclesiastical body from insult. Under these circumstances 
the Church authorities have ceased to oppose actively, and 
seek rather to guide quietly, the looser ramifications of the 
festival into less objectionable channels, by holding mid- 
night religious services, varied by music and addresses, 
which are said to be overnowingly attended. 

After about an hour's conversation on various topics, we 
visited the notable establishment over which the good old 
bishop had so long and ably presided. The Greek Hospital 
is adjoining, and is a most interesting institution, providing 
at present for the physical disabilities of three hundred 
and sixty persons, between the actually sick, the partly 
convalescent, and lunatics. Cleanliness, order, brightness, 
and quietude everywhere prevailed as we were conducted 
through each department by the obliging " Economo " or 
superintendent, Pater Seraphino ; and the sunken yet 
brilliant eye, the hectic flush, and the hollow cough of 
many a poor consumptive patient showed how necessary 
was the ungrudged care of which he or she was the recipi- 
ent. Hospitals can never be too spacious ; so the purity of 
the air and surroundings in this noble building, the lofti- 
ness of the ceilings, the calm, sympathising looks of the 
nurses, their soft tread and kindly manners, such as one 
sees in kindred establishments at home, were all eminently 
gratifying, and calculated to cheer the heart of affliction, 
and spread the fame of this truly cosmopolitan refuge for 
the alleviation of human suffering; for the ailing of all 
nations of every creed, or without any, are treated there 
gratuitously. 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



139 



From the hospital to the Greek Schools is but a step or 
two. At present these ample halls accommodate about 
790 pupils, who are taught — without fee if poor, although 
most of the parents pay something — all the usual branches 
of a commercial education, besides others required for a 
professional career. Such has been the success of the 
various professors in communicating knowledge to the rising 
generation, that certificates of proficiency from them are 
said to ensure admission to their happy possessors within 
the class-rooms of any college or university in Europe. 
Being a Saturday when this visit was paid, few of the 
students were seen, but the deserted building afforded a 
good opportunity for judging of the physical details, which 
appeared most efficient. The library and museum, although 
containing a large number of valuable books and manu- 
scripts, relics of ancient sculpture, coins, curiosities, &c, 
are still in embryo for want of space, being encroached 
upon by the academic department ; but this drawback will 
doubtless soon be remedied, as the buildings, through the 
munificence of the wealthy Greeks of Smyrna and other 
places, are being gradually extended. 

On a subsequent occasion I paid another visit of several 
hours' duration to the library in search of local information, 
and was greatly pleased with the extent of its varied 
treasures, and with the kindness and urbanity of the 
librarian, M. Alexandros E. Kondoleon. 

When one talks of the munificence of the Greeks to- 
wards such a valuable seat of learning as this, in which the 
institution previously alluded to largely shares — both the 
outcome of private gifts, donations, and bequests — the full 
meaning of the words can hardly be grasped, without 
an illustration or two to show that the rich of this resus- 
citated and rapidly reviving nation are as bountiful as the 
noblest in other lands, and that some of them do not wait 
to distribute their benevolence until the grave forbids 
them the possession of their wealth any longer. Joannes 
Marcello, a well-known Smyrna merchant in his day, 



140 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



together with his amiable sisters, spent large sums upon the 
enlargement of the schools. In this object £12,000 were 
employed, and, on the completion of the work, property 
was made over to the trustees in perpetuity which yields 
an annual income equal to £800. The sisters have recently 
gifted to the academy the whole of their remaining posses- 
sions, retaining only a modest competency for life. Another 
family of princely generosity is that of Kieped Joglu, con- 
sisting of two brothers and a sister, still alive, who have 
already given the hospital and schools more than £20,000 ; 
while Yasilio Diogenes, some years deceased, besides aiding 
those institutions most liberally during his lifetime, be- 
queathed to them the whole of his vast accumulations — 
being without heirs — on the death of his still surviving 
wife. This gentleman was the founder and proprietor of 
the largest drapery, carpet, and general soft-goods business 
in all Turkey — an establishment where 200 young men and 
women are employed, and one of the sights of Smyrna. 
Before his death he was decorated by King George of 
Greece with the Order of the Cross, for his patriotism and 
splendid liberality ; and the employes in the warehouse 
show with pardonable pride, in a private room, a colossal 
oil painting of their late master wearing the badge of his 
sovereign's favour, by Paleologho, an artist of Mitylene. 

It need hardly be added that those magnificent institu- 
tions are most ably supervised by a committee of Greek 
gentlemen, some of whom I met from time to time. Among 
these it is only courteous to the whole body to mention the 
name of M. Alexandre Christacki, the representative of an 
old aristocratic Smyrna family, who is at present, and has 
been for many years, the mayor of the Greek community 
there. At his house I enjoyed the first of the many hos- 
pitalities offered so freely during my stay in Asia Minor ; 
and it was in the same airy dining-room, in his society, 
and in that of his amiable relatives Monsieur, Madame, and 
M. Charles Pasquali, that I partook of the last, ere passing 
on board my steamer months afterwards to return home. 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



141 



From these few notes and reminiscences the reader will 
have no difficulty in understanding the feeling of pride 
with which the Greeks of Asia Minor regard the institu- 
tions just alluded to, how kindly disposed they are towards 
strangers in whom they find sympathy, and how passionate 
the eagerness which pervades all classes for the spread of 
education, and in helping the impecunious sick towards con- 
valescence. It is also a most pleasing task to record how 
free and full are the acknowledgments of the Greeks for any 
little help or encouragement, moral or otherwise, they may 
have received from other nations. Previously to the Crimean 
war (1854-1856) Greek sympathies lay almost wholly on 
the side of Kussia ; now, that grasping and faithless Power 
is without a friendly voice in Asia Minor. Why is this ? 
Simply because the Greeks venerate and believe in the 
honesty and genius of Mr. Gladstone, virtues which in their 
eyes were unmistakably proven by his handing over to the 
Hellenic Government the Ionian Islands, when he might 
easily have absorbed them into the British Empire. Thus 
a simple act of national justice has produced its reward, 
and the distinguished statesman has no warmer admirers 
anywhere than among this enthusiastic people, who seem 
not to have a single Tory among them, and are never tired 
of hearing or reading about the great Liberal leader. 

Another little reminiscence with the same bearing may 
not, although personal, be altogether out of place. One 
evening an official gentleman, M. Joanna Mavroidhy, 
Dragoman to the American Consulate, Smyrna, called at 
Bournabat, with the gratifying intelligence that the Sultan 
had decided to bestow a decoration on Mr. John Griffitt, as 
a mark of appreciation for all that gentleman had done 
towards rescuscitating the silk industry of Asia Minor. I 
happened to be absent at the time, but on my name being 
mentioned, M. Mavroidhy said impetuously, " Cochran ! 
Cochran ! Is your guest connected in any way with the 
great Lord Cochran, whose memory is cherished with 
affection by every patriotic Greek for having . fought 



142 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



along with the revolutionists during the struggle for 
independence ? " 

" The Scotch clan or tribe of Cochran," Mr. Griffitt re- 
plied, " is, I understand, quite a small one. There are only 
some half-a-dozen of the name even in the London Directory, 
and I quite believe that my guest is related, it may be 
distantly, to the distinguished naval officer you mention." 

M. Mavroidhy then hummed the following stanza from a 
Greek war-song, the pronunciation of which may be written 
thus : — 

"Ola t'amena arminizmi me 
Pania che me cupia, 
Tu Cochran to carava 
Armenizi me fotia ; " 

rendered in French by the singer as follows : — " Tous les 
batiments dans ce monde voyagent a voile et a rarnes, le 
batiment de Cochran voyage avec du feu du temps qu'il 
fait meme calme ; " or, put into plain English : — All ships 
the world over go by sails or oars, but the ship of Cochran 
goes by fire even when the weather is calm. 

I was immensely amused, when I returned from a 
sketching and botanising excursion among the Bournabat 
hills, to be told this story, and to reflect that I had been 
thus unconsciously basking, in the minds of enthusiastic 
Greeks, in a halo of reflected glory. 

Before leaving this theme it may save future genealo- 
gists trouble, and my posterity unnecessary research to point 
out here that Thomas, tenth earl of Dundonald, G.C.B., in 
his ' Autobiography of a Seaman ' (1860), inclines to the 
belief that the first of the Cochran race was a Scandinavian 
pirate. It will be said that this is hardly an ancestor to be 
carried away with pride about ; nevertheless to have sprung 
from an old Danish sea-rover is probably a better origin on 
the whole than from a metropolitan publican of a former 
age, like a certain arrogant Tory nobleman of the present 
date. The Cochran genealogy, which is admittedly very 
ancient, has a fairly good character at a later period than 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



143 



that of the hoary Viking, in the person of Walclenus de 
Coveran, who nourished in 1262. He was followed by Wil- 
liam de Coveran in 1296 and John de Coveran in 1346, all 
persons of consideration, with no taint of the boniface applic- 
able to any of them. About the year 1386 the family name 
became modified to nearly its present shape, and in 1389 
William de Cochran obtained from King Robert II. a 
charter of the lands of Cochran in Renfrewshire. The 
subsequent details are not important in presence of another 
consideration which is that, viewed in the light of the 
possible identity of the British nation with the long-lost 
Ten Tribes of Israel, the family of Cochran may turn out 
to be considerably older (if that is calculated to do the 
survivors any good) than even the distinguished Earl of 
Dundonald was aware of, being probably one of the most 
ancient upon the face of the earth. When the parvenu is 
on the outlook for ancestry, having already swept the old 
curiosity-shops and sale-rooms of all the battered armour 
and ghastly portraits in the market, to represent gallant 
forefathers in his hall and gallery, " who fought and bled 
on many a tented field," it is usual to apply at Herald's 
College to have the stamp of seeming reality in some way 
affixed to the dingy collection. This deceptive and im- 
moral process need never obtain the faintest countenance 
from a Cochran, because his ancestry, many think, seem 
plainly indicated in Scripture. If the reader will open the 
Book of Numbers — and look into chapters i. 13; ii. 27; 
vii. 72, 77 ; and x. ^6 — he will find something about a 
certain Pagiel, the son of Ocran, a prince and captain of 
the tribe of Asher, who, as an early scion of the Cochran 
family, — as probably he was — makes the longest pedigree 
of the most ancient British aristocrat of no more com- 
parative value than the London publican's pewter would be 
to his proud descendant's coronet. 

To return, however, to the legitimate subject of the 
present chapter ; after the name of Mr. Gladstone there is 
perhaps no other of a foreigner which falls upon the 



144 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



intelligent Greek ear with greater melody and approval, 
or conjures up pleasanter memories, than that of the late 
Eev. Mr. Hill, an American, who for more than forty years 
laboured at Athens in the grand work of education. But 
before saying anything further regarding the efforts of 
this eminent clergyman, it is desirable to relate a story 
of worldliness versus philanthropy, which, told to me 
in the twilight, amidst blossoming orange-trees, lemons, 
oleanders, and peaches, on a lovely April evening, by 
my gifted friend Mr. G-riffitt, with all his rare dramatic 
force and fire, must unfortunately appear tame by 
reproduction. 

Many years ago two Americans of different denominations 
were sent to Athens in the interests of religion — one of them 
by the American Board of Foreign Missions, and the other by 
a society. The first of these missionaries commenced his 
career by a crusade against the doctrines and practices of 
the Greek Church, neglecting no opportunity of writing 
and preaching down everything connected with the national 
form of faith. The Greeks are a discriminating people, and 
therefore well able to gauge a man's honesty by comparing 
his preaching with his practice. They saw that to a bitter, 
railing tongue, this American united the gripping fingers of 
avarice ; that a greed for money dominated his life rather 
than hunger for the saving of souls. Accordingly they lost 
respect for him, and his usefulness was soon at an end. Still 
it was admitted on all hands that he was a man of learning 
and ability, yet smothered under a quilt of worldliness ; 
and it quickly became patent to all that he was grossly 
fanatical and injudicious to a degree. 

During the war of Greek independence (1821) the island 
Scio, among others, was overrun by the Turks, and the inhabi- 
tants in some cases massacred. Among the captives saved 
alive was a little Greek maiden, who, with many children of 
misfortune, was brought to Smyrna and sold to an English 
gentleman. He, pitying the friend lessness of the innocent 
child, sent her to some relatives in Ireland, where she was edu- 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



145 



cated and attained maturity. On her return to Smyrna, her 
protector gave her in marriage to a converted Jew, then a mis- 
sionary under the auspices of a London society. Something 
occurred which caused the husband to abandon his sacred pro- 
fession, and taking to commerce, soon amassed a comfortable 
competency. Having no children, he bequeathed the whole 
of his property to his wife, and died. His envious relations, 
learning about his prosperity, and hearing of his death, came 
to Smyrna from Constantinople to rob the widow and share 
the supposed plunder. They started an action at law against 
her for the recovery of the estate. She was arrested by 
the Turkish authorities, and placed in confinement ; but her 
health failing, she was allowed, on the intercession of her 
friends, a change of air to an adjoining village. The 
injustice of the whole proceedings had by this time aroused 
the energies of several of the foreigners in Smyrna, who 
smuggled her away to Athens, where she could bid defiance 
to her persecutors. There she lived a highly-respected 
widow for many years, associating principally with the 
families of the various Protestant clergy and missionaries ; 
and might have been living still but for the Jesuitical bigotry 
and callous cruelty of the reverend person already alluded 
to. One afternoon, a sad one for the widow, she had invited 
some friends to spend the evening with her in a little social 
converse and enjoyment, and was in the act of preparing for 
their reception, when the fanatic entered. He observed the 
signs of approaching festivity, and, with a gloomy face and 
hollow tone, said — 

" You are about to give a tea party ! Woman — I see 
death painted in your face ! Instead of preparing for 
junketing, kneel instantly, and pray to the Almighty to 
forgive your many sins ! " 

The poor lady was indescribably shocked and alarmed. 
She had long laboured under symptons of heart-disease ; 
she gasped, fell backwards with a gurgling cry, and in a few 
moments was a corpse. But another tragedy was in the 
air, for, equally astounded and terrified at the result of 

L 



146 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



his awful lolly, the unhappy man rushed home, and expired 
almost on the threshold of his house. 

The Eev. Mr. Hill's efforts, aided, as he was, by an 
estimable wife, afford a striking contrast to the sad career 
and tragic death just described. From the day he landed 
at Athens, he identified himself with the improvement of 
Greek education, and in the course of a long life, of nearly 
one hundred years, gained the love and admiration of every 
member of that nation. Through the schools at Athens, 
established and conducted by these true philanthropists, 
nearly all the Greek lady teachers, now so widely spread 
through Turkey, over Greece, and in every village of Asia 
Minor, where even a few Greek families live, have passed. 
These ladies and young girls are alone an elevating influence 
the value of which it is impossible to estimate. Some of the 
fruits have long been apparent, as, so religious, soundly 
moral, yet wholly unsectarian has the system of education 
proved, that many of the clergy of the Greek Church have 
had their children and young relatives trained there. 

Well may the Greeks feel proud of their splendid 
institutions, and well can they now afford, in their manly 
prosperity, to lavish an overflowing measure of esteem 
upon those foreigners who, sympathising with them during 
their darkest days, helped them to knowledge in the child- 
hood of their modern career. 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



117 



CHAPTER XI. 

MYSTERIES OF REPRODUCTION. 

As it is all-important to the silk-farmer that the cocoons 
chosen for reproduction should be of the full average weight 
of the particular race to be reared, firm in texture, unexcep- 
tionable in colour, shape, and quality, it is desirable that he 
should possess the opportunity of selection from an ample 
education. But a large education and a considerable pro- 
duction of eggs are clearly incompatible with a copious 
harvest of silk. In other words, the farmer should make up 
his mind, at an early point in his technical career, whether 
he will devote his energies to the first branch of the industry 
or the last. He may, doubtless, do both after the " Jack-of- 
all-trades fashion, but very soon he will discover that to 
succeed in a satisfactory manner in one section will prove 
quite sufficient to engage all his faculties. Presuming 
that the sericulturist's choice is unfettered, and that his 
aim is reproduction, the following epitome of Mr. Griffltt's 
experiences cannot but prove valuable. 

Selecting the Cocoons. — Eight days from the commence- 
ment of the worms to spin, the cocoons are taken down 
from the brushes, and after the separation of all defective 
specimens, and the removal of the floss silk, an equal 
number of males and females should be chosen. The female 
cocoons are always larger than the males, and are of a 
continuous oval shape, with a tendency to being pointed at 
one end ; whereas the males, in addition to being smaller, 
possess a decided waist, as if slightly squeezed in round 



148 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR; 



the middle — a peculiarity more or less marked in different 
species. All that are imperfectly or badly shaped should 
be rejected, as their defects in symmetry are almost evidence 
that the worms which produced them were weakly, if not 
diseased. For the same reason the silk-farmer should avoid 
those cocoons, however attractive to the eye, spun by worms 
which were tardy in mounting the brushwood, as the eggs 
laid by their moths when hatched the following season are 
liable to flaclierie (Fig. 35). For three reasons double 
cocoons should always be repudiated, notwithstanding the 
authority to the contrary of more than one writer on the 
subject, because : — 1st. Experience teaches that the moths 
issuing from these abnormal products transmit to their 
posterity a tendency to spin in the same objectionable 
manner ; 2nd. Because such cocoons, being usually much 
thicker than single ones, the moths are greatly weakened 
in their efforts to pierce their way through, and are thus 
less vigorous and successful in perpetuating their species ; 
and 3rd. On account of the difficulty of reeling the silk — 
suppose the moth stifled beforehand — the thread being- 
tangled and interlaced, double cocoons, notwithstanding 
their fine appearance, are usually worth only about one- 
tenth of the price they would have commanded had they 
been single. 

In short, those cocoons only should be retained for re- 
production which are not only perfect to the eye, to the 
touch, and which pass the ordeal of the balance, but which 
are pale and strictly uniform in conirnexion ; and in select- 
ing white specimens the preference should be given to 
purity of colour, that is, to those having a bluish rather than 
a yellowish tinge. This remark, however, is not intended 
to prejudice the farmer against white cocoons which may 
have become accidentally stained while on the brushes, pro- 
vided enough of the surface remains uninjured from which 
to judge. On the contrary, it is better purposely to pick 
out and make use of such soiled individuals for the graine 
harvest, because, while they may be perfect in other respects 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



149 



for reproduction, in the market their silk would only fetch 
an inferior offer. 

The finest of the crop having thus been set aside, a second 
discriminative examination is made for sex, and this is never 
difficult, as in almost every education in Asia Minor the 
males and females are found to be about equal in numbers. 
The selection is made by weighing several hundred cocoons 
accurately, with a view to arriving at a correct average, and 
supposing it proves to be thirty-one grains, all cocoons found 



Male. Female. Male. Female. Male. 




Fig. 29.— Male and Female Cocoons strong for Reproduction. 



over this weight are generally females, and those under it 
males. In this way a ready check upon the eye is always 
at hand; but after a time, when practice has taught 
experience, few farmers are likely to resort, except on rare 
occasions, to the scales. 

Stringing the Cocoons. — The next process is arranging the 
cocoons on stout linen thread in strings of one hundred, and 
the operation requires to be clone with both care and speed, 
so as to avoid injuring the living chrysalides within, and to 



150 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



overtake the work. The needle is passed through the 
outside fibres on one side near the centre, for the reason that, 
as the moth invariably issues from one or the other extremity, 
its escape should be free and uninterrupted. One hundred 
cocoons should occupy each string, with the object of easy 
reckoning in view of estimating the probable yield of eggs. 
They should not be pressed down too closely one upon the 
other, as an abundance of air is needed for the respiration of 
the embryo insects within. The subjoined sketch (Fig. 29) 
will render unnecessary further detail. 

In a large concern this stringing process occupies many 
hands, as the space of time allowed is limited ; accordingly 
it has been thought that some modification of the sewing- 
machine might be adopted, but as yet without practical 
issue. The difficulty of such an adaptation, surely, could not 
be great, and a successful implement would prove such an 
important adjunct to the graine producer and get into such 
speedy and large demand, that perhaps the inventive 
faculty of some one may be stimulated, when the want is 
made known. 

The cocoons having thus been satisfactorily arranged, each 
string of one hundred is suspended from a peg or nail driven 
into light bars of wood crossing a dry, airy chamber, at a 
height of about six feet from the floor. Each string should 
hang separately from its own nail, and in some magnaneries 
the custom is to have the females on one side of the apart- 
ment, the males on the other, but this is a mere matter 
of detail and is unimportant. It is necessary, however, 
that the utmost quietude should prevail, and no more light 
should be admitted than is necessary for the attendants to 
see their way among the suspended strings. 

Issue of the Moths. — The period required for the transfor- 
mation of chrysalides into moths varies according to the 
temperature of the chamber in which the cocoons have been 
hung. Should this have been the usual 70 degrees Fahr., the 
moths will commence to issue in twelve days ; but should 
the temperature have averaged less, their appearance will be 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



151 



correspondingly protracted. The beginning of the issue 
generally occurs in the early morning, and the period of 
greatest populating activity between six and eight o'clock ; 
but from the moment that the first moths appear, the 
temperature of the room should be kept at 70 degrees. 

Part of the furniture should consist of four frames (Fig. 
20) covered with clean calico. On their issue the male moths 
should be placed on one frame, and the females on another. 
Each of the latter should be carefully examined for the 
detection of disease, and anything defective or abnormal ; 
keeping in view the fact, that beautiful specimens of female 
moths sometimes meet the eye, whose only fault is a little 
dark, velvety-looking spot on the abdomen. Yet to all such, 
the nurseryman must be pitiless ; they are corpusculous 
creatures, and should be immediately burnt, as well as every 
moth exhibiting defects. Beauty of form, and spotlessness, 
should alone prove the passport to continued existence, as 
even trifling imperfections reappear in an exaggerated 
degree in future generations, when defective moths are 
allowed to perpetuate their species. Sometimes, in place of 
spots, the farmer detects a greyish tint spread all over the 
body of the insect, and the tyro may in consequence imagine 
that it is eminently diseased. He will be wrong ; there is 
no malady of any kind, but rather robust vigour. 

The males are invariably smaller than the females, and 
are very active. From the moment they are fairly clear of 
their cocoons they keep almost continuously vibrating their 
wings, and never cease running about all over the frame 
until they have found mates. Larger, slower in their 
motions, and in every way more sedate and phlegmatic, the 
females evince no liveliness, but usually wait calmly about 
one spot until found by the opposite sex. 

Coupling the Moths. — Healthy and handsome moths hav- 
ing been selected, an equal number of males and females 
are placed on the third frame, and when coupled, are 
carefully transferred to frame number four, which should be 
covered with the smoothest white cotton-cloth, and each 



152 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR 



pair of moths ought to be placed at a distance of four 
inches from the nearest couple. For a time the little pairs 
must be closely watched lest any of them separate, as 
perverse males sometimes desert their mates suddenly, and 
prancing heedlessly among the other united couples create 
divorce and confusion. When this occurs the males should 
be immediately seized and restored to the same females ; 
and it is rarely necessary to pursue a roving lover a second 
time, as, after the defeat of a first dash for liberty, he usually 
settles quietly, and there is no more trouble. At the end 
of six hours the couples should be gently separated ; the 
females are removed to a sloping frame, and each allowed 
an area of four inches square upon which to deposit her 
eggs ; the males are placed together in any convenient box 
until a number have been collected. From 110 to 120 
healthy females are required to produce one ounce of 
graine, or in number about 40,000 eggs. 

When the issue of the sexes on any occasion happens to 
be unequal, the overplus males should be retained in a 
cool, dark place in a perforated box until the following 
morning, when the balance is generally restored by a 
superabundance of females. Should the profusion be on 
the female side, it is best not to keep them waiting, but 
to pair them with such vigorous-looking males as may have 
completed their first six hours' duty. There need be no 
fear as to the result, as numerous experiments have proved 
that the same healthy male may be allied five times 
consecutively with different robust females, and the eggs 
have always proved fertile and sound. As a rule, however, 
each day's males may be dispensed with at the end of their 
first saturnalia, and as their function in life is now fulfilled, 
as they neither eat nor drink, and as in the course of nature 
they must die in a few days, they are given to domestic 
fowls, and are made a meal of by them with peculiar relish. 

The smoothness of the cloth upon which the eggs should 
be laid has been alluded to. It is with a view to the safe 
and easy removal of the graine by gentle scraping after 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



153 



the fabric has been moistened with alcoholised water to 
soften the natural gum with which each egg is surrounded. 
The graine when newly laid is of a pale yellow colour, 
which it retains for some days, then gradually deepens into 
a greyish tint, if vital, but remaining yellow if unim- 
pregnated. 

Before leaving this important subject, it is desirable to 
mention that, so far as is at present known, a perfectly 
healthy female moth cannot be contaminated by union with 
a corpusculous male. It has been acknowledged by the 
most distinguished sericulturists of Europe, that, provided 
the female is free from disease, her progeny will also prove 
robust, although the male may have exhibited doubtful 
symptoms. Nevertheless, the experience of Mr. Griffitt 
leads him to say that it is unadvisable to use any suspected 
males, as they may weaken, even if they do not taint, the 
succeeding generation. Indeed, the thirty-five years' 
ravages of the various silkworm diseases, which have so 
interfered with the silk trade of Italy, France, and Turkey, 
ought to teach the utmost caution and care to all future 
silk-farmers everywhere, lest they by any carelessness should 
invite a return of such disastrous maladies. 

It is advisable, also, to name one exception to the plan of 
setting female moths to lay their eggs on an inclined 
surface. In the case of the Bagdad breed (Fig. 52) a 
different method is necessary, as the graine from this source, 
being perfectly dry and unprovided with gum, or any other 
means of adhering to a sloping frame, would roll off and be 
lost as soon as voided. Accordingly, the frame must be 
level upon which the females are placed, or they may be 
enclosed in little muslin bags. 

Removing the Eggs. — One month after the eggs have been 
deposited, the following measures are adopted in Asia Minor 
for their safe removal : — During the previous day a quantity 
of soft water is boiled, and on its withdrawal from the fire, 
ten per cent, of strong alcohol is added, i.e. one gallon of 
spirit to each ten gallons of boiled water. The object of 



154 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



this addition of alcohol is to clean the graine thoroughly 
by dissolving its natural gum, and thus facilitate its dis- 
placement from its resting-place. Each cloth having been 
well soaked in this water, is stretched on a clean, soft wood 
table, and the graine carefully scraped off with an ivory 
paper-knife. After being thus detached, it is subjected to 
a thorough washing in a glass or porcelain vessel with 
similarly alcoholised water, when it will be found that all 
the good, sound eggs will have settled at the bottom, while 
those unimpregnated, or which have been injured during 
removal from the cloths, float on the surface, and should 
be skimmed off and burnt. When the washing process is 
completed the water should be poured off, and the eggs 
emptied carefully into a fine sieve to drain. Finally, the 
valuable graine is spread out thinly on a frame in a shady 
situation and exposed to the air, where it should be 
frequently turned over with care until it is perfectly dry. 

Preserving the Eggs. — After three or four days' exposure, 
the eggs are usually quite free from moisture, and should 
then be placed in boxes of fine wire-gauze, or perforated 
zinc. The best storing arrangement resembles a little 
cabinet for the reception of geological specimens. It is 
made entirely of perforated zinc, and consists of a neat case 
terminating in a ring, and fitted with a series of little 
drawers, each one inch in depth and perforated throughout, 
so that air may approach from every side when all are 
charged with graine. Into these tiny drawers the dried 
eggs are poured to the depth in each of only one-third of an 
inch (one centimetre). When all the drawers have received 
their complement, the case is suspended by the ring in the 
top to a wire attached to the ceiling of a dry, airy, cold 
room in the establishment, where no fires or other means of 
artificial heating are used, for the reason that the rigour of 
moderate winters is found to be beneficial, provided the 
graine is under cover, and secure from the effects of damp. 
Indeed, it may be mentioned that M. Roland of Switzerland, 
several years ago, set all doubts upon this delicate point at 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



155 



rest, as he found by experiment, that even a lengthened 
exposure to a degree of cold only two degrees above zero 
exercised no prejudicial effect, and that during the following 
season the regularity in the hatching of eggs thus exposed, 
was all that could have been desired. 

Consignment of Graine. — When eggs are required to be sent 
to a comparatively short distance from the nursery in which 
they have been produced, they may be placed in perforated 
card boxes, with the space between the graine and lids filled 
with clean wadding or cotton-wool to prevent oscillation. 
But should a considerable mileage intervene, and especially 
if the proposed consignment, of say fifty to one hundred 
ounces, must cross the sea, the arrangement of perforated 
zinc drawers already alluded to ought to be adopted. The 
drawers should be one-third filled with eggs, and the re- 
maining space occupied by wadding. When all are 
complete and closed, the zinc box should be placed in a 
perforated wooden case, measuring four inches larger every 
way in the interior, and this space filled up all round Avith 
broken charcoal, not in powder, but simply in small pieces, 
and the perforated lid screwed on. The outer case should 
then be enveloped in wire-gauze and the address attached. 
By this method of packing, the outside air has free access to 
the graine, while the entrance of damp is arrested by the 
charcoal ; the latter also aids in keeping the precious con- 
signment—worth from one to two pounds per ounce — cool. 
As soon as the package reaches its destination, the wadding 
should be carefully removed from each drawer, the contents 
minutely examined, and if found safe, the box hung by a 
wire to the ceiling of a cool, airy chamber to await the 
arrival of the hatching season. 

Such are the ordinary means of reproducing and pre- 
serving the healthy eggs of silkworms, which, with modifi- 
cations at different times and in different countries, have 
been in use for a long period of years ; but when disease 
became prevalent both in Europe and Asia, some additional 
methods were required. Indeed, the ravages produced 



156 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOB ; 

were so overwhelming that the industry in many districts 
died out altogether ; and when the maladies at length 
succumbed to the scientific teaching of M. Pasteur, seri- 
culture had to be in a measure restudied and re-established 
upon a foundation in which the microscope formed an 
important item. This eminent French physiologist, after 
five years of intense application, assisted by his wife and 
daughter, and some young demonstrators from L'Ecole 
Normale, Paris, in a remote valley of the Cevennes, probed 
the secrets of all the known silkworm distempers, and 
devised a plan for producing absolutely healthy eggs, now 
known as " Pasteur's Cellular System," an abstract of 
which is as follows : — 

Pasteur's Cellular System. 

Pasteur's method is based on the principle that " a moth 
exempt from corpuscles never produces a corpusculous 
worm." Each female moth being placed on a separate 
square of cloth when about to lay, to which it is afterwards 
pinned through the wings, it is a simple matter, with the aid 
of a suitable microscope, to detect corpuscles in the insect if 
they are present, when both mother and eggs should be 
immediately destroyed. 

Summary of the System. — The first requirement is to 
obtain a supply of cocoons from, if possible, an indigenous 
race, as proving more remunerative than the Japanese. It 
is necessary for success, that the cocoons should have been 
selected from an education conducted with all the usual 
precautions and in the best manner, in which the vigour of 
the worms during the several ages had been undoubted ; 
and, most particularly, an education where but few deaths 
had occurred from the fourth moult to the period of 
mounting the brushes to spin. Five or six days after the 
worms have climbed, one or two pounds weight of cocoons 
are gathered here and there from the harvest, and are taken 
straight to a room heated up to a temperature of 80 to 85 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



Vol 



degrees Fahr. This amount of heat may be maintained by 
means of a stove, hot-water pipes, or any other suitable 
contrivance, provided a vessel of water is kept simmering 
in the chamber ; and the temperature indicated must be 
continued day and night until the moths begin to issue. 
Should the sericulturist wish to proceed on a small scale, 
the little instrument, Fig. 17, will be found very convenient. 
On the second day after removal to this hot room, and each 
alternate day afterwards, about twenty of the cocoons should 
be carefully cut open, the chrysalides taken out, one by one 
crushed separately in a small mortar, and examined micro- 
scopically in the manner detailed further on in Chapter XIV. 
If ten per cent, of these chrysalides be found corpusculous, 
the entire quantity of cocoons of which they formed a part 
ought to be condemned as worthless for reproduction, and 
should be passed on to be stifled for silk ; but should little 
or no trace of disease be detected, the whole crop may be 
considered fit for the perpetuation of the species. 

It would be difficult, even with the aid of diagrams, to 
explain to the tyro in such microscopic examination exactly 
what appearances he should search for. For example, in a 
very young chrysalis, one may expect various corpusculous 
forms, some of which possess rather a vaguely defined, as 
well as a well-marked outline, as depicted in Fig. 32. Unde- 
veloped centres of infection are represented in Fig. 33, 
which in a short time change into the brilliant corpuscles 
of Fig. 32. When such organisms are found in any degree in 
a young chrysalis, the eggs it may afterwards yield are certain 
also to be corpusculous, and if retained would simply help to 
spread disease. 

When, however, the experimentalist passes from the 
chrysalis to the moth, much of the difficulty of identifying 
the corpuscles vanishes, as a diseased moth invariably 
contains large numbers of these parasites in the fully- 
developed form represented in Fig. 32. 

As soon as the moths from the cocoons in the warm 
chamber commence to issue, their wings and eggs should 



158 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR; 

be separated, and each insect pounded to pulp in the 
mortar. This is examined under the microscope and a 
note taken, in a book kept for the purpose, recording 
full particulars of the exact number of corpuscles which 
appear on each disc. In order that a fairly reliable average 
may be obtained, not less than fifty moths should be thus 
examined ; with the result that, if there should be only ten 
diseased moths found in one hundred, the eggs may be 
considered good commercial graine suited to the wants of the 
silk industry for cocoons alone. But on no account should 
such eggs be used to continue the breed another season, as 
graine intended for scientific reproduction should be wholly 
free from every trace of disease. The eggs laid by absolutely 
healthy moths exhibit no appearance of corpuscles under 
the microscope, and the worms hatched from them do not in 
the course of their education contract disease to such an 
extent as to prevent their spinning a remunerative crop 
of cocoons ; nevertheless, as already remarked, even the 
suspicion of malady should shut out all such graine from the 
reproducing farmer's nursery ; none should be used that 
has not been laid by perfectly untainted moths. It may be 
mentioned, however, that where an examination of one 
hundred moths shows ten diseased insects, this does not mean 
in practice that ten per cent, of the eggs are likewise smitten. 
On the contrary, it is found that the proportion of actually 
diseased graine in such cases is generally only from one to 
two per cent., which is accounted for by the circumstance, 
that even in bad cases of infection, only a small portion of a 
moth's eggs is usually contaminated with the germs of 
distemper. 

Method of Producing Cellular Graine. 

Little squares of clean cotton-cloth of the size shown in 
Fig. 30 are strung upon lengths of twine stretched across a 
cool, partially-darkened room. The number of clo.ths will of 
course depend on the quantity of cellular graine required 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 159 

For one ounce of eggs from 110 to 120 cloths should be 
provided, and a similar ratio for larger expectations. After 
the moths have been uncoupled, a female is placed upon each 
little square of cloth, to which she will cling readily, and in 
a few minutes will begin to deposit her eggs, which also 
adhere by reason of the natural gum with which they are 
surrounded. In from thirty to forty hours the process will 




Fig. 30.— Moth pinked to its Egg-Cloth for Future Examination. 
Pasteur's Cellular System. 



be complete, when each moth is folded in the lower left 
corner of the little cloth, as depicted in the sketch, and is 
secured by being pinned thereto through its wings. 

The only exception to this mode of treatment is in the 
case of the beautiful large Bagdad moth already referred to 
(Fig. 52), whose eggs, being unfurnished with gum, would 
drop down and be lost as fast as they were deposited. 
Accordingly, the females are placed in little muslin pockets 



160 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



or bags to lay, these being suspended to strings stretched 
across the chamber in the same way as the others. 

The day following that on which the graine has been 
deposited, the strings of cloths or bags are unhooked, the 
ends of each string tied together, and the whole carefully 
hung up in a dry, airy room with free atmospheric circula- 
tion ; as it should never be forgotten that the graine, the 
worm, the cocoon, the chrysalis, and the moth can never be 
brought to perfection, and success in sericulture attained, 
without a constant supply of pure air. In this apartment 
the strings of cloths should remain until autumn or winter, 
and when the farmer is released from other duties he should 
separately examine each moth microscopically. As the 
object of the cellular system is to obtain absolutely faultless 
eggs, the discovery of any corpuscles on a disc should be 
held sufficient evidence to condemn the whole of the eggs 
on the cloth ; accordingly they should be carefully washed 
off and destroyed, while the cloths, after proper cleansing in 
boiling water, may be reserved to do duty the following- 
year. On the other hand, those cloths or pockets of eggs 
which have satisfactorily passed the ordeal of the microscopic 
examination in the persons of the moths which laid them, 
are treated with alcoholised water and scraped off for 
preservation, as already detailed earlier in the present 
chapter. 

Such is the cellular system of M. Pasteur, which has 
already worked like a charm in eradicating or subduing 
silkworm disease wherever it has been practised. In the 
able and interesting work recently published by his son-in- 
law, and translated by Lady Claud Hamilton,* the follow- 
ing passage in this connection occurs : — 

" This process of procuring sound eggs is now universally 
adopted. In Basses-Alpes, in Ardeche, in Gard, in the 
Drome, and in other countries, may be met with every where, 

* ' Louis Pasteur, his life and labours.' By his son-in-law. Longman 
& Co., London, 1885. 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



161 



at the time of the cultivation, workshops where hundreds 
of women and young girls are occupied, with a remarkable 
division of labour under the strictest supervision of skilful 
overseers, in pounding the moths, in examining them 
microscopically, and in sorting and classifying the little 
cloths upon which the eggs are deposited." 

The possibility of obtaining perfectly sound eggs having 
been thus proved, the next requirement was to secure 
such a degree of robust vigour in certain races that the 
future risks of contracting disease might be reduced to 
a minimum. This Mr. John Griffitt accomplishes as 
follows : — 

Mr. Griffitt's Invigorating Practice 

May be termed a process of selection, or the survival only 
of the fittest. His words are : " No cocoon should be used 
for reproduction except those raised in the best known 
manner, where there have occurred few deaths in the last 
age of the worms, and in circumstances where the little crea- 
tures have exhibited no hesitation or delay in spinning. By 
the expression ' worms raised in the best known manner,' 
I mean, worms raised from graine in which there were no 
traces of the two dreaded diseases jpebrine and flaeherie ; 
also, that every sanitary precaution had been observed 
during the several ages, so as to prevent accidental disease. 

" I lay down three times as much graine to hatch as I 
wish to raise for actual reproduction, retaining only the 
worms of the second and third day's issue, in order that I may 
secure equality of age. The worms hatched later I rear 
separately for silk. I take care never to crowd my worms 
at any period of their growth, and I keep the nursery 
thoroughly ventilated. Feeding is attended to with the 
greatest regularity, the diet during the first three ages 
being the cut leaves of the wild, or ungrafted mulberry ; 
and through the last two ages the leaves of the grafted 
tree in little clusters adhering to the branches. The latter 

M 



162 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA 31 IN OP ; 



practice I find eminently healthful, as, by promoting the 
circulation of air, reducing the production of litter, and 
tending to keep the fast maturing worms well separated, 
the risk of jlaclierie is greatly reduced. Cleanliness is 
constantly observed and the refuse removed frequently, 
care being taken after each moult to detach those still 
unfinished and all the small specimens, from future com- 
panionship with the rest. By these precautions, at the 
end of the education, only the finest and most vigorous of 
the various races remain in the colon}^." 



Twelve Rules for Sericulturists. 

This chapter could scarcely be more appropriately closed 
than by the quotation of Mr. Griffith's twelve rules which he 
constantly impresses on the minds of all his employes. 
They are as follows : — 

I. The two chief diseases of the silkworm, yebrine 

and flacherie, being highly contagious, it is of 
the first importance that the worms should 
never be crowded during their first three ages, 
so that any diseased ones appearing may not 
infect the others. 

II. Removing the litter from the frames should be 

done with deliberation and care, so that no dust 
may arise, because, in the event of there being- 
diseased worms, the dust resting on any fresh 
mulberry leaves brought into the nurserv 
communicates the malady. 

III. On removal, the litter should be carefully placed 

in a pit and immediately covered with earth, to 
prevent dust being carried by the wind into 
the mulberry plantation, or into a neighbour's 
nursery. 

IV. As soon as small, or sickly-looking, worms are 

detected on any frame, they should be imme- 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



163 



diately removed by one or two specially 
intelligent girls detailed for this duty. It 
should never be forgotten that the neglected 
presence of a single diseased creature may cause 
the infection of many in health, and may even 
ruin a whole education. 

V. Large saucers of chloride of lime, diluted with 

water and frequently stirred, should be kept in 
each corner of the nursery chamber during the 
whole education, and special attention to this 
precaution and ventilation is required during 
the last two ages, when the worms are large, and 
their evacuations very copious. 

VI. When worms are raised for reproduction, the graine 

should be hatched as early as possible, in order 
that the worm may spin its cocoon eight or ten 
days sooner than those raised for silk, and other 
worms in the neighbourhood. The object of this 
precaution is to escape the miasma which may 
possibly be conveyed by the wind from diseased 
nurseries. 

VII. Educations for reproductive purposes should always 

be small, and the persons entrusted with the duty 
should be debarred having to attend to any 
other nursery. 

VIII. The educator should bear in mind that the only 

cure for hereditary flacherie, or indeed for 
preserving the worms from the accidental form 
of this disease, is to give them plenty of room, 
to keep them individually well apart, especially 
during their first ages ; and that there should be 
a constant renewal of the air in the apartment. 
IX. Avoid extremes of temperature when the worms 
are moulting. 

X. The person who picks a small or diseased worm off 
a frame with bare fingers, should wash the hands 
immediately afterwards. 

M 2 



164 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



XL Hatch one-third more graine than will be required 
in the last age, in order that laggards in moulting 
may be destroyed, and as a provision against any 
small, sickly, or diseased individuals that may 
appear during the education. 
XII. When pierced papers are used during the cleaning 
of the frames, they should be carefully wiped 
immediately afterwards with clean cloths, and 
exposed to the sun. 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



165 



CHAPTER XII. 

THREE TURKISH INSTITUTIONS. 

It requires more than a residence of six weeks in Asia 
Minor — the length of time the writer had spent in that 
magnificent country when this chapter was originally written 
— ere the visitor can hope to say anything comprehensive 
of its modern capital, and principal seat of art and commerce, 
the great town of Smyrna. Time and opportunity are 
required to become familiar, and deal graphically with that 
strange agglomeration of squalid huts and noble palaces, 
crooked, badly-paved, ankle-twisting streets, myriad shops, 
reckless carriage-drivers, sun-shaded bazaars, scents, stenches, 
dirty puddles side by side with white marble door-steps, and 
long strings of bell-announcing, donkey-led, stately, loaded, 
malevolent-looking camels, marching deliberately along with 
an air of slow, supercilious majesty, as if speed were no object, 
and all they surveyed their own. The attempt at such a 
description, therefore, will not be hazarded, and instead, the 
courteous reader is asked to be content at present with 
an introduction to three eminently meritorious Turkish 
institutions in and near the metropolis. 

Sometimes it is said, and occasionally believed at home, 
that Turkey is not progressing along with the other 
civilised nations of the world ; that, like the Chinese of 
other days, the Turks are incapable of improvement. Such 
disparaging language, like all exaggerated nonsense of the 
same stamp, will presently drop out of use, except by the 
recklessly untruthful, when it will only impose upon the 
wilfully ignorant. That Turkey would not be spoiled by 



166 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



further regeneration is not to be denied, any more than that 
the municipal councils of many a great city at home would 
not suffer by the permanent withdrawal of some of their 
blatant, yet ignorant and vulgar, members. In both cases 
the remedy is the same — a rapid spread of education ; and 
it is with the educational feature, which the Turkish 
Government of Smyrna is now and has for some years 
been endeavouring honestly to effect, that this chapter 
will deal. 

Notwithstanding many revolting stories of atrocities which 
have been current from time to time about Turkish troops 
during periods of rebellion or war, it seems certain that the 
nation as a whole is far from cruel. Indeed, many travellers 
agree in testifying to the kindly manner in which the Turks 
treat their children, their servants, and their domestic 
animals. It is less known, however, that so unselfish is their 
hospitality, particularly to foreigners who can speak their 
difficult language, that such — not being Kussians — may 
sometimes travel from one extremity of Asia Minor to the 
other without being obliged to spend the smallest coin upon 
either food or shelter. A people so kindly and well disposed 
in their ways towards the chance traveller or sportsman, are 
not likely to prove callous to the claims of the sick and 
helpless ; accordingly, in Smyrna the visitor will find a 
very efficient and well-conducted native hospital. 

The Konak is the name given to a pile of extensive 
public buildings, situated to the east of the harbour, and 
containing the chambers of the Governor-General, those of 
some of the high officers, and the departmental offices, 
except the Commercial Tribunal, which is elsewhere. To the 
right of these erections, but separated by a street, stands 
an immense barrack, capable of accommodating 10,000 men, 
which is interesting, on account of having been used during 
the Crimean war as a refuge and convalescent home for our 
wounded soldiers. A little further on, and well within 
the refreshing breeze from the Mediterranean, stands the 
hospital, in the midst of well-kept gardens gay with flowers, 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



167 



richly perfumed with large, heavily-laden orange-trees, and 
rendered additionally cool and attractive by a splashing 
fountain. I went to visit the establishment, accompanied 
by two friends, and we were courteously received by the 
superintendent, Achmet Kiazim Effendi, a gentle-looking 
Turk, who, after we had partaken of coffee in a handsome 
drawing-room, took us over the buildings. As we were 
leaving the reception-room to accompany our guide, I 
observed a couple of framed and glazed Turkish inscriptions 
hanging on the wall, which, on being translated, proved to 
be prayers, or rather aphorisms, quoted from the Koran, as 
follows : " He who harms the poor will be punished by God ; " 
the other, " He who does good to the poor will be rewarded 
by God ; " whilst on the opposite wall hung the comfortable 
words, " God in creating man provided everything suitable 
for his happiness. Let man be just, and all will be his." 
With those encouraging maxims to reflect upon, we followed 
the superintendent up and down nights of stairs and along 
spacious corridors, noting the cleanliness which everywhere 
prevailed. There are at present 125 cots in position for 
ien, and 25 for women, with a sufficient stock of iron beds 
stored away ready for immediate erection. Outdoor patients 
are also gratuitously treated at certain hours, of whom some 
ifty are usually on the list ; and the importance of the 
hospital will be recognised when it is mentioned that 
during the past two years more than 5000 persons have 
?en successfully treated within its walls, who, without such 
Ledical aid, or relief from the hospitals of other nationalities 
Smyrna, would inevitably have perished. As in the 
reek hospital, previously described, all diseases, kindreds, 
tnd tongues are admitted without papers or recommendations 
)f any kind, the only two exceptions being persons afflicted 
/ith venereal complaints and leprosy ; but preparations are 
>eing made in separate establishments for their treatment. 

walk round the wards conveyed the impression of the 
)erfect cleanliness and comfort of the inmates, and the care 
itb which they are attended. Even in a room full of 



168 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



ruffians — wounded, scowling prisoners, whose maimed bodies 
were perforated in various directions with dagger, bayonet, 
sword, pistol and gunshot gashes, — the purity of the atmo- 
sphere, except a slight smell here and there of chloride of 
lime and carbolic acid, was remarkable. Two doctors and 
two assistants are in constant attendance, who enjoy also 
the benefit of the advice of their colleagues in the medical 
profession during their weekly meetings at the hospital. 
In a word, to my unprofessional, although not altogether 
unobservant eye, the whole of the arrangements — the 
neatness, quietude, regularity and military precision which 
pervaded the wards ; the cold glitter of the cruel, yet neces- 
sary instruments reposing until wanted in their crimson 
velvet nests behind doors of glass ; the speckless appearance 
of the walls, ceilings and floors ; and the ample dimensions 
of the savoury kitchen and store-rooms, all disarmed criti- 
cism, because there was nothing with which to find fault. 
It would be hard, however, to discover in this world any 
merely human institution without some flaw. In this fine 
establishment the weak point does not lie in any imper- 
fection in the arrangements, or deficiency in the manner in 
which these are carried out, but rather in the loss sustained 
by the rising generation of the Turkish Levant, and Asia 
Minor generally, in consequence of there being as yet no 
medical school attached to it. There is a wealth of 
teaching facilities and bedside experience running to waste 
which ought not to continue, but should be immediately 
pressed into the service of Turkish medical education. 

The benefits of the hospital being given gratuitously, the 
cost per annum — about £4000— is mainly provided by 
means of a small tax upon real estate, the rest being con- 
tributed by private donors and subscribers. Among the 
last is His Majesty the Sultan, who allows 350 piastres 
per month from his private purse, and a sum of 2950 
piastres per month is unselfishly contributed by the various 
government servants of the vilayet. 

Our inspection over, we were taken through the beauti- 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



169 



fully kept gardens, full of large orange-trees covered with 
ripe fruit : and with many a shaded nook where the weary 
convalescent could sit and enjoy the lively movement of 
ships coming and going the entire day in and out of the 
busy harbour. With balmy zephyrs continually being 
wafted in from the blue Mediterranean; the bright, un- 
clouded, yet far from fervent sun overhead ; the mellowed 
notes of the military bands from the not far distant barracks 
occasionally saluting the ears of the patients, and the mag- 
nificent ripe fruit hanging everywhere within reach for the 
assuagement of their thirst, I fancied that those Turkish 
and other sufferers who were now recovering from their 
complaints, had they been acquainted with our western 
literature, might have said with the poet : 

" I thought that if peace could be found in this world, 
A thankful heart might look for it here." 

Bidding adieu to the patients, the musical fountain, and 
the fragrant orange groves, we were requested to return to 
the reception-room, where cups of coffee and cakes were 
again presented, and after a further interval were each given 
a handsome bouquet of yellow tea-roses on our departure. 

At the old quarantine station, a few miles distant by 
tram-car, and close to the Bay of Smyrna, stands another 
noble monument to Turkish philanthropy and progress — the 
" Industrial School for Orphan Boys," sometimes called 
" The Polytechnic." It is under the personal care and con- 
stant superintendence of Yousuf Zia Effendi, a man with the 
word " benevolence " depicted in every feature of his face 
as plainly as if stamped there — who, as might be expected, 
takes the liveliest interest in his duties and in the welfare 
of the little waifs over whose instruction he presides. 
Although the school has only been in operation six years, it 
has already done good work in rescuing from the gutter 
many a poor little mite whose goal in former days would 
have been the gulf of crime. After the inevitable coffee and 
cigarettes, we were conducted over the school, where there 



170 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR; 



are one hundred and two boys and accommodation for about 
fifty more. The class-rooms, dormatories, kitchen, and cor- 
ridors were all visited with approval, as also the warehouse 
containing the fruits of the boys' industry, when we were 
taken to see the little lads actually at work. Nineteen small 
shoemakers made a really effective display of products 
equally suitable for young and old, rich or poor. The boys 
were busy on boots of various shapes, colours and materials, 
from the little red dumpy article for toddling infancy to the 
splendid equestrian adjuncts of the gorgeous pasha. There 
was strength and neatness, brilliance and sobriety, in the 
shining rows of handsomely-sewed leather work, which 
seemed to appeal with equal force to peasant as well as peer 
to come, buy, and wear. Meanwhile the diminutive cutters- 
out performed marvellous feats of dexterity in sweeping 
recklessly round difficult leathern corners with their sharp 
curved knives ; the hand-sowers awled and tugged with 
vigour at their waxed threads ; many small hammers re- 
morselessly thumped in the pegs of wood, brass, or steel 
into soles of unbending rigidity, whilst half a dozen sewing- 
machines clicked merrily in chorus. 

The cabinet-making, turnery, and carpentery department 
had twenty-two muse alar little men, each with his saw, 
chisel, or mallet in full operation, and their work fell in no 
sense behind the others in interest. Their products con- 
sisted of many admirable specimens of light furniture, small 
tables, commodes, cupboards, corner presses, fancy boxes, 
egg-cups of olive-wood, garden chairs, and other useful and 
ornamental articles. The tools and benches seemed all that 
could be desired, the workshops were brilliantly lighted, 
roomy, and airy, and the bright-looking little Turks in 
their tiny red caps wore an air of happiness and evident 
devotion to their pleasant labours, which must have been 
most gratifying to their indefatigable preceptor. 

Without meaning to imply that there existed any violent 
contrast between the workers in leather and wood and those 
of the next department visited, it must still ba averred 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



171 



that a decided air of sedateness and gravity pervaded the 
domain of the bookbinders, as was indeed befitting* the 
haunt of a learned profession. The numbers, to be sure, 
were limited — only six ; but their duties are onerous, as a 
share of the Government work regularly goes their way. 
That in progress was an official record of events — a kind of 
calendar, with a well-executed large map of the vilayet of 
Smyrna, drawn by Yousuf Zia Effencli himself, a copy of 
which he very kindly presented on my departure. 

The stalwart village smith, with arms and fists of the 
largest development, perspiring at the roaring forge, has 
somehow down through the centuries monopolised the 
human idea of what a worker in iron ought to be like ; 
consequently, it seemed a kind of burlesque to call such 
liliputian beings as those next seen, the descendants of the 
mighty Tubal Cain. Yet there they were, these little 
smiters of the anvil, doing work with a precision and 
dexterity which that historic smith would have envied but 
could not have produced. Of the twenty-two wee engineers 
in this workshop, some were at the forge, some at the turn- 
ing lathes, others were using the file and chisel, whilst a 
deeply-absorbed group surrounded a drilling machine, driven 
by a stalwart negro, piercing the ironwork of garden chairs. 

Probably, however, the liveliest scene of all was a roomful 
of diminutive tailors. They were shaping, stitching, and 
sing the sewing-machine, upon the articles of dress, them- 
elves, and their fellows in the other workshops, would sooner 
r later wear, with a degree of activity and enthusiasm 
sually associated with play rather than work. The sounds 
eard were not so deafening as those produced in the smithy, 
till, the continual whirr and click of the mechanical needles 
endered conversation difficult, showing equally the good 
raining of the nineteen boys at work, and the substantial 
uality of the tools they used. 

Only one more spectacle remained — the inside of the 
usic-room. To the enquiring mind such a place told a 
tory peculiarly its own. There were nineteen little men in 



172 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



this apartment, some wielding trumpets almost as big and 
heavy as themselves, and all standing motionless beside 
their manuscripts, ready to commence as we entered. At 
a signal the performance began, and it was surprising to 
note how well they kept together, and what a crash of 
musical sound they at times emitted. Even some wild 
camel-drivers, with their animals, passing outside were con- 
strained to pause and look in at the open windows. Like 
the " wedding guest " held by the " glittering eye " of the 
"Ancient Mariner," they "could not choose but hear." 
These dusky wanderers are not as a rule emotional, so they 
are not usually surprised at anything ; or, if they happen 
to be a little astonished at an unexpected occurrence, 
generally succeed in concealing their amazement. But 
there, with widely-stretched eyes they peered in at those 
open windows, through which a gentle breeze played from 
the Bay ; and when they saw the almost microscopic atoms 
of humanity who were producing such a volume of sound, 
their hushed ejaculations of " Marsh Allah " (praise be to 
God) showed what they felt and how they were moved. 

Immediately adjoining this invaluable school of industry 
and sweet sounds, are the magnificent new buildings, not 
then quite completed, intended for the housing of another 
noble institution, the " School of Commerce and Agri- 
culture," which owes its origin to the late amiable Governor- 
General, Hadji Nachid Pasha, and to the enthusiasm for 
national progress of Mehemed Noury Bey, the former 
Inspector of Agriculture for the Province of Smyrna, who 
is intended to be the Director. It is one of the finest 
Government buildings in or near the town, and has already 
cost more than £20,000. When finished and opened it will 
doubtless prove an important factor in the quickly-improving 
teaching apparatus of Turkey. Its advantages to students 
will be manifold, as the buildings have been specially 
contrived for the purpose intended. The class-rooms, halls, 
laboratory, library, and corridors are lofty, airy, and well 
ventilated ; the situation on the margin of the Mediterranean 



Oil, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



173 



is beautiful and healthy, while a short tramway line connects 
the college with the entire length of Smyrna. 

From the foregoing brief account of only three Turkish 
institutions, some idea may be gathered of what many others 
have become, or are daily becoming, under the influence of 
modern ideas. It may be true that the old Conservative 
party still exercises a retarding influence at Constantinople, 
just as the antiquated Tory fossils of London are perpetually 
blundering up against every proposed amelioration of the 
masses or other improvements at home. But as this is the 
age of enlightenment and progress, the old-fashioned and 
doubtless perfectly honest Turk of the Bosphorus, equally 
with the decayed and shrivelled Tory of the Thames, must 
quickly give place to men of advancement and action. 



174 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



CHAPTER XIII. 

DISEASES OF THE SILKWOKM. 

It seems to be the price demanded and paid as an equivalent 
of human progress, that wherever a high state of civilisa- 
tion is attained, there, correspondingly troublesome or fatal 
diseases reign. On the other hand, if it be amidst the 
haunts of science that we see the maladies of men and the 
lower animals most prominently developed, it is there alone 
that such diseases receive their check, antidote, or cure. 
The murrain which seized, dominated, and almost destroyed, 
during more than thirty years, the silkworms of Europe and 
Asia Minor, is an illustration in point. 80 long as the silk- 
rearing industry remained exclusively among unscientific 
nations like the Persians, Chinese, Venetians, or Genoese, 
the various silkworm diseases, recently so well known and 
dreaded in every important silk-producing country of the 
world, were either so undeveloped as to be comparatively 
harmless, or were not in existence. Nevertheless, not many 
years after sericulture had become a thoroughly established 
calling in the midst of the most scientific nation of the 
period — France — all the terrible scourges of silkworm 
life appeared, which at first spread slowly and mildly, then 
gradually gained strength and malignity, until ultimately 
they all but ruined the silk-farming enterprise. There were 
other elements, doubtless, which tended to hasten the 
disaster, such as war, internal convulsions, and pestilence. 
With these factors it is unnecessary to meddle, as they were 
subsidiary rather than important accompaniments. It is 
sufficient to note that the management of silkworms by an 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



175 



eminently civilised, clever, clear-headed, expert, and skilful 
people, seemed for a time to have become infinitely worse 
in its results than all the blind blundering of uneducated 
Asiatics for more than a thousand years. 

The culture of the mulberry, and rearing of silkworms, is 
said, by some authors, to have been begun in France during 
the thirteenth century, in an amateur way, in Languedoc, 
Provence, and the Comtat d' Avignon ; but the experiment 
does not appear to have made much progress, as other 
writers mention as a circumstance worth recording, that in 
1480 some noblemen were only beginning to study the 
habits of the silkworm at Dauphiny that year, with a 
view, probably, to promoting a silk industry on their own 
estates. The likelihood therefore is, that the correct date 
at which to fix the commencement of silk-farming in 
France, on a commercial scale, should be the year 1521, 
during which Milanese artizans were invited, and went to 
Msmes, capital of the department of G-arcl, to teach the 
French peasantry of that fertile plain how to manage the 
white mulberry-tree, to take care of silkworms, and to 
harvest their silk. The infant industry thus initiated was 
enthusiastically encouraged by King Henry Quatre ; and 
of such good quality were the mulberries, and so carefully 
tended then and since, that the first bush planted on that 
occasion is said still to survive, and may be seen sur- 
rounded by its adult scions as old-looking as the parent. 

Louis XIV. also encouraged silk rearing, but it is to the 
present century that the industry owes at once its rapid 
rise, its melancholy collapse, and its recent hope of 
a general revival. During the reign of the " Grand 
Monarque " the average annual weight of cocoons pro- 
duced in France was only 100,000 kilogrammes, equal to 
220,000 lb. avoirdupois. In 1788 the total harvest had 
increased to six million kilos. (13,200,000 lb.), when the 
Revolution intervened and pulled down the annual yield to 
one-half. One of the very few good things Napoleon 
Bonaparte did for France was to foster sericulture, so that 
under his encouragement the crop once more began to 



176 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



increase, and after the European peace of 1815 rapid 
progress up to the end of 1853 was attained. Meanwhile 
the yield of silk in other countries was also marked, and 
continued in a state of prosperity longer, as the diseases, 
which began in France, took fully five years to spread 
over Europe, Asia Minor, and into the further East. The 
accurate appreciation of the state of matters which ensued, 
is so important to any reader who would grasp the full 
significance of the sericultural disaster which now began 
to prove formidable, that the subjoined tabulated statement, 
compiled by the writer in 1882 from official and other 
documents, is quoted in full from the ' Journal of the 
Society of Arts.' * 



Imports into London of 
China, Bengal, Persian, Brutia, 


Results of the Silk Harvests 
in France. 


and Italian silk. 


Year. 


Bales. 


Year. 


Kilos, of Cocoons. 


1830 . . . 


22,741 


1821 . . . 


10,000,000 


1840 . . . 


23,051 


1831 . . . 


14,000,000 


1846 . :. . 


30,658 


1841 . . . 


17,000,000 


1852 . . . 


46,985 


1846 . . . 


21,000,000 


1853 . . . 


54,489 


1853 . . . 


26,000,000 


1856 . . . 


75,166 




1857 . . . 


112,757 






1859 . . . 


93,154 


At this period the silkworm 


1863 . . . 


80,802 


diseases seem to have got the upper 


1871 . . . 


72,062 


hand, so that the 


harvests dwindled 


1872 . . . 


63,832 


as follows : — 




1873 . . . 


53,359 






1874 . . . 


52,881 






1875 . . . 


40,310 


1854 . . . 


21,500,000 


1876 . .. . 


53,930 


1855 . . . 


19,800,000 


1877 . . . 


39,590 


1856 . . . 


7,500,000 


1878 t . . 


37,939 


1863 . . . 


6,500,000 


1879 . . . 


35,426 


1864 . . , 


6,000,000 


1880 . . . 


33,772 


1865 . . . 


4,000,000 


1881 . . . 


26,223 


1879 . . . 


3,500,000 



* Vide paper on "The Physical and Social Capabilities of New 
Zealand for Tea and Silk Culture," read before the Foreign and Colonial 
Section of the " Society of Arts," London, on Tuesday, 31st January, 
1882, p. 288, by W. Cochran. 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



177 



It will be seen from this table that the culminating point 
of prosperity in France was the year 1853, or about six 
years after the various silkworm diseases had begun 
to prove troublesome ; and for the other silk-producing 
countries named, 1857. After those dates the silk harvests 
all over the world began steadily and rapidly year by 
year to decrease, so that, latterly, a simple arithmetical 
effort would have put the student in possession of a period 
corresponding fairly well with the year when, on the death 
of the last worm, the industry would have utterly perished. 

To be even more explicit, the reader is informed that 
during the year 1853 the average value per pound of cocoons 
in France was about five francs, so that the harvest of that 
magnificent season was worth one hundred and thirty 
millions of francs, or, at 9^d. per franc, £5,145,833 ; and had 
a similar rate of progress been kept up all through the 
Second Empire and Republic, the present silk harvest 
might not unlikely have reached a value of one thousand 
millions of francs, or £39,583,333 sterling. 

It is abundantly clear, therefore, that if France made 
mistakes she was destined to pay terribly for them, in 
company with all the other silk-rearing countries of 
Europe and Asia. She was the first victim, as it was in her 
nurseries the diseases had taken form and shape ; so, years 
afterwards, as was most fitting, it was one of her gallant 
sons that showed his countrymen how to stamp them out. 
In the meantime the maladies were spreading in every 
direction, and the great year for the French silk-farmers, 
1853, proved the beginning of mourning for those of 
Lombardy, as pebrine had taken possession of the farms 
there, which three years later were as completely infected 
as those of France. 

Now commenced one of the most extraordinary egg- 
hunts the world ever saw. The crisis w T as of the gravest 
kind, for a great industry belonging to many nations was 
threatened with extinction. France could no longer look 
for help to Spain and Italy, for both speedily became as 

N 



178 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



dangerous centres of infection as herself; consequently, 
adventurous young men from all three countries scattered 
themselves over the face of the earth, tried every island 
in the Greek Archipelago, hawked all through the 
Balkan Peninsula, took swift dromedaries from the 
Bosphorus to Broussa, and thence rushed to every corner 
of Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, China, and Japan. Every 
likely spot was ransacked at enormous cost, for if the 
stake was great, success meant millions. It would have 
been truly heartrending had all these splendid efforts been 
put forth in vain. They were each successful for a time ; 
the eggs so acquired tided over the farmers, who could pay 
for them, for a season ; but in most cases the progeny 
proved inferior, became in turn infected, and the egg-hunt 
had to be recommenced and extended to such remote 
places as Corea, Bokara, Manchuria, Turkestan, Georgia, 
some of the Pacific islands, and Chili. Fortunately for 
these globe-trotters, the merchandise of which they went in 
search is remarkable for its portability, as from forty to 
fifty thousand eggs are required to weigh one ounce, and 
that quantity may be easily stowed away without trouble in 
one's waistcoat pocket; but unfortunately for the trade it 
came to an end in consequence of disease appearing sooner 
or later everywhere in the East, except in Japan. By the 
year 1864 no corner of Europe was exempt, and Japanese 
eggs alone remained healthy. "Agricultural societies, 
governments, all the world was preoccupied with the 
scourge and its invading march," we are told by Lady 
Claud Hamilton in her most interesting translation of 
Pasteur's book already referred to : " It was said that 
something like cholera had attacked the worms." After 
every imaginable nostrum had been tried without success, a 
wail of despair went up to the Government from a body of 
3600 mayors, municipal councillors, and capitalists con- 
nected with the various silk-producing departments of 
France. A commission was appointed, with M. Dumas as 
reporter; and it was at this time that that gentleman 



OR, NOTES FROM TEE LEVANT. 



179 



conceived the happy idea of inlisting Pasteur in the 
inquiry. On the 6th June, 1865, this eminent physiologist 
and chemist, taking the bull by the horns, as it were, visited 
Alais, where the silkworm plague was doing its worst. 
Twenty days afterwards he had found a clew, which, for 
five long years he never relinquished, even in the face of 
the bitterest criticism and animosity, until he had probed 
the maladies to their most hidden sources. When Pasteur 
paid his first visit, the silk-farmers attributed all their 
troubles to the disease pebrine, and to that malady alone, 
but he soon discovered and informed them that there were 
others present. In 1866 he had laid bare one of the 
plagues, the corpusculous malady; the following year he 
was able to fully expose and explain another, known as 
flaeherie. After numerous experiments and great research 
he came to the conclusion that these were the real plagues 
he was called upon to fight : pebrine was the most pre- 
valent, but flaeherie was also more or less everywhere ; he ac- 
cordingly fought them with his microscope, and conquered. 

The question may now with perfect propriety be asked : 
" What really are pebrine and flaeherie f " Fortunately, 
after the enlightenment of M. Pasteur's five years' patient 
researches, the replies are not difficult, and now follow as 
far as possible in the language of Mr. John Griffitt of 
Bournabat, one of Pasteur's most enthusiastic disciples. 

Pebkine. (Fig. 31.) 

The name pebrine is derived from the French provincial 
word pebre, pepper — and is descriptive of the small, dark, 
round spots characteristic of the skin of the worm, labour- 
ing under its influence. 

Pebrine is produced by parasites in the worm, and is 
to be dreaded, because, in addition to its being here- 
ditary, it is highly contagious ; bat by the use of a 
microscope magnifying from four hundred to five hundred 
diameters, the corpuscles of the disease are easily seen. 

N 2 



180 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR; 



There are two distinct forms of the corpuscle — one 
brilliant, round or oval in shape, with sharply-defined 




Fig. 31.— Pebrine. 



outlines, and many equal in size. These have reached 
their full development (Fig. 32). The other is pyriform 
or oval, of a pale colour, with a dimly- traced outline 




Fig. 32.— Highly Corpusculous Graine. 



(Fig. 33). Such are young corpuscles, but requiring 
only a short time to develop into the brilliant, well- 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 181 

marked form. The action of the atmosphere upon these 
organisms destroys their virus or their power of com- 
municating disease ; but it should be remembered that 
the dust of a nursery, the worms in which had died of 
pebrine the previous year, falling on mulberry leaves with 
which a succeeding race are fed, will produce flacherie. 
Hence the necessity, already alluded to in these pages, of a 




Fig. 33.— Young Corpuscles about to develop into brilliant oval Corpuscles. 



thorough cleansing of every corner of the magnanerie before 
a fresh incubation is attempted. 

The symptoms of pebrine are easily recognised. The 
worms become very irregular in size, eat little, and acquire 
the characteristic spotty appearance of Fig. 31. The spots 
are seen first upon the head, but quickly spread all over 
the grub, while the moths show dark markings on the 
wings, and a velvety appearance from the middle to the 
tail end of the body. In a former part of this work 



182 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



the necessity of taking every precaution to separate im- 
mediately all healthy worms from those which happen to 
be contaminated was shown. Such precautions were not 
founded upon mere hearsay or unsupported tradition, but 
were the outcome of the following experiments, conducted 
season after season for many years by Mr. Griffitt at 
Bournabat, near Smyrna : — 

Experiments, first and second ages. 

I. On many separate occasions he infected hundreds 
of silkworms during their first and second ages, 
by placing ten per cent, of diseased worms 
among the healthy. The malady spread over 
the entire colony, and not a single cocoon was 
produced. 

II. He frequently, in the course of different seasons, 
introduced contamination among the worms of 
an absolutely healthy colony, by sprinkling a 
little fresh excrement, taken from diseased 
individuals, among the robust. Precisely the 
same result followed. 
III. Feeding a colony of healthy worms only onee 
upon mulberry leaves which had been touched 
here and there with fluid obtained on bruising 
a corpusculous worm in a mortar, produced 
pebrine, and no cocoons followed. 
These three experiments, repeated hundreds of times 
during many years, may be held to prove : 

I. That the contagion of pehrine spreads by contact ; 
II. By inoculation, communicated through the claws 
of the worms creeping over each other after 
having been defiled among corpusculous ex- 
crement ; 

III. By eating and digesting mulberry leaves contami- 
nated by the juices of corpusculous worms ; and 

IY. That worms so infected during the first two ages 
never form cocoons. 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



183 



Experiments, third age. 

The same round of experiments were tried frequently 
during the third age of silkworms, with the result that 
infection proved less disastrous. Many worms succeeded 
in spinning imperfect cocoons, but when cut open the 
chrysalides were always found to be a mass of corpuscles ; 
when allowed full time, the moths hardly ever had suffi- 
cient energy to issue from their cocoons ; and in the few 
instances in which they emerged they were found worthless 
for reproduction. 

Experiment, last age. 

When worms are infected during their final age, 
being then more seasoned and their powers of digestion 
thoroughly active, they suffer less, but do not escape 
uninjured. Should the contamination reach them im- 
mediately after their fourth moult or change of skin, they 
invariably spin cocoons, the beauty of which are apt to 
deceive the farmer into the belief that the little creatures 
inside are free from disease. Examine the chrysalis however 
with the microscope, or any of the moths which issue, and it 
will be found that many of them are very corpusculous. 
This experiment clearly shows that while worms infected 
during their last age may be depended on to produce good 
mercantile cocoons for silk-reeling purposes, still, as many 
are found to be corpusculous, they are worthless for repro- 
duction, and ought never to be retained for that purpose. 

Precautions as to absolute cleanliness in every department 
of the nursery, as well as the avoidance of dust, particularly 
where disease in any form is or has been recently present, 
have also been brought before the reader. These precautions 
arose out of the following 

Dust Experiment. 

Mr. Griffitt collected some dust from various nurseries in 
which the worms had all died of pebrine the previous year. 



184 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



After sifting, and mixing a few particles with distilled water, 
a microscopical examination revealed hundreds of corpuscles 
upon each disc. Some of the same dust was then sifted 
over mulberry leaves, and given to silkworms in different 
ages, when after two or three days the mortality in every 
instance was found to be very great. Yet, strange to say, 
when the deceased worms were in turn examined no cor- 
puscles were discovered, and it was evident that they had 
died of flaeherie. 

With the view of making all such experiments as the 
above convincing, and placing their manipulation beyond 
the reach of accident or carelessness, they were performed 
in absolutely clean, white-washed rooms, without drapery of 
any kind, by the investigator himself; the worms used 
were taken from a number in perfect health, the re- 
mainder being kept for comparison ; and in every in- 
stance the members of the little colony, if originally 
uncontaminated, completed their full periods of eating, 
spun good cocoons, from which moths issued entirely free 
from corpuscles. 

It has already been observed that the name jpebrine has 
been given to the corpusculous malady on account of the 
appearance the body of the afflicted worm presents. Now, 
as nearly all the worms in a nursery show marks upon their 
bodies, some discrimination is required ere the flat goes 
forth that they are diseased. The feet of the little creature 
are provided with hooks to enable it to anchor itself securely 
to the leaf it may be devouring, and with these adjuncts it 
can cling with wonderful tenacity even to one's bare hand. 
In crawling over one another on the frames, in search of 
attractive food, or during the last age when about to mount 
the brushes, they slightly wound one another, producing 
elongated scars, which should not be mistaken for the spots 
of jpebrine. But as a pictorial illustration of what is meant 
is of more practical value than many sentences of description, 
the reader is referred to the subjoined sketch (Fig. 34), where 
the segment of a corpusculous worm, magnified six diameters, 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



185 



is shown with both spots and wounds, the latter charac- 
teristic of havino- been inflicted with claws. 

o 

It will be evident from what has been said regarding the 
disease pebrine, taking into account the circumstances that 
it is both hereditary and contagious, that it is difficult to 
deal with ; in the present state of our knowledge, impossible 
to cure, and only to be got rid of by the promptest measures 
of extermination whenever seen. This much, however, we 
are certain of, on the authority of M. Pasteur, that perfectly 
healthy moths, in whose bodies no corpuscles can be detected, 
will yield perfectly healthy eggs, so that, although we cannot 
tell exactly what the corpuscle is, where it comes from, or how 
it in the first place acts, we know it is a parasite, and that 




Fig. 34. — Segment of a Corpusculous Worm. 
(Magnified sis diameters, showing pebrine spots and skin wounds.) 

he microscope reveals its presence. The method of detection 
s simple and is as follows : — Whenever the moths begin to 
ssue from their cocoons, a few are separately pounded in a 
ortar, and a note taken of the number of corpuscles seen 
n each field of the microscope. In order to obtain a just 
verage, not less than fifty moths should be thus examined, 
nd it will be understood that in every case of crushing for 
examination the wings and eggs should be removed. If 
over ten percent, of the insects are found to be corpusculous, 
he entire lot of cocoons from which these were taken are 
worthless for graine : they should be stifled and disposed of 
or silk. Should less than ten per cent, of disease be detected, 
he crop may be considered fit for commercial graine, but 



186 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



should on no account be kept for reproduction. Indeed 
absolute freedom from corpuscles should alone entitle any 
eggs to be preserved ; and probably within the next few- 
years, when the advantage of such a course has been 
experienced in silk-producing countries, and the knowledge 
and use of the miscroscope become more widely spread than 
is the case at present, no eggs produced by pebrine-mfected 
moths will escape destruction. 

It has been said that pebrine is both infectious and here- 
ditary, to which may be added a memorandum of the belief, 
prevalent both in China and on the continent of Europe, 
that the silkworm is prone to catch disease from a human 
being. So particular are the silk-farmers in the former 
country at the period of hatching, that no females, except 
those in perfect health, are allowed to assist inside in any 
way in an establishment of any pretensions. Persons in 
mourning are forbidden to enter a chamber where silkworms 
are feeding, unless seven weeks have elapsed since the death 
of the person they grieve for ; the attendants are prohibited 
during the period of their duties to use meats fried in oil, or 
have about their persons any scent agreeable, aromatic, or 
otherwise ; and on no pretence whatsoever is an enceinte 
woman permitted to approach the nursery. The nurseries 
themselves are kept scrupulously clean, and no fermenting 
material, either animal or vegetable, is allowed to accumulate 
inside or near ; means of washing for the attendants are 
everywhere at hand ; and no native thinks of crossing the 
threshold without the superstitious rite of either sprinkling 
himself or being sprinkled with a small bunch of mulberry 
leaves dipped in water. 

In France, also, precautions are observed, as will be seen 
from the following anecdote condensed from the narration 
of an eye-witness * : — " I well remember several years ago 
setting out with a party of friends from the quaint old city 
of Aries, with its forlorn look of better days, its sad wealth 

* Vide article, " Silkspinners " — a chapter on pebrine and its victims, 
in ' London Society ' for December, 1881. 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



187 



of ruined palaces, on my first visit to a magnanerie, or 
silkworm rearing-house. . . . The approach of our modest 
victoria caused quite a sensation. The men and women 
picking leaves quitted their task to look at the strangers ; 
and the black-eyed, brown-faced, tightly-swathed babies, 
hanging in animated clusters from the branches of a 
spreading tree close by the road, stared in solemn wonder 
and dumb amazement at the unwonted sight." Presently 
the manager of the silk-farm made his appearance. " He 
expressed himself charmed to have the opportunity of 
showing us over the establishment, and invited us to enter. 
Just as we were about to do so, he noticed, evidently for the 
first time, that one lady of our party was in a delicate state 
of health. Stopping us at once,, he exclaimed, ' I am 
desolated to disarrange you, but it is impossible this lady 
should enter.' At our astonished requests for his reason 
the little man explained, with paroxysms of excuses and 
apologies, that silkworms were seriously affected by the 
proximity of any person in ill-health, and that were the 
lady to enter the magnanerie the result would probably 
be most disastrous to his ' educations.' . . . Finding the 
manager inexorable, and as the innocent cause of the fuss 
urged that she really did not care about seeing the place, 
we finally left her quietly seated in the carriage, and entered 
the magnanerie in the wake of our guide. . . . Here, sur- 
rounded by his charges, the manager fully explained 
his reluctance to admit our friend. It appears he was 
once employed at the experimental rearing-house of the 
Commission on Silks at Lyons. . . . All was going well 
in the establishment on one occasion, when a girl suddenly 
fell ill of fever — so ill that a bed was made for her in a 
room in which some silkworms were being * educated.' 
Next morning those who had care of the room were disagree- 
ably surprised to find that two-thirds of the worms were 
diseased, whilst in the other rooms no sign of such a thing 
was discernable." This circumstance, which after all may 
have been but an accidental coincidence, had convinced the 



188 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



manager that the near approach of any person in ill-health 
is most prejudicial to the worms. 

It need only be said, in concluding these remarks on 
this corpusculous disease, that, although there is no known 
cure for it, the farmer can protect himself against its 
approach by taking due precautions : the first of which is to 
learn the use of the microscope ; the next, to hatch no eggs 
except those obtained from healthy moths, to give his 
worms plenty of room, abundance of ventilation, to keep 
them scrupulously clean, and to make sure that his 
mulberry leaves have not been contaminated by dust from 
neighbouring infected nurseries. 



Flachekie. (Fig. 35.) 

It was in the year 1867 that Pasteur, after numerous 
experiments, was enabled to drag forth before the searching 
eye of science the secret of the other great plague, that of 
flacherie, which, along with pebrine, had so long been para- 
lyzing every effort of the French sericulturists. During 
the early months of that year the great 
physiologist had been hatching and rearing 
silkworms by artificial heat, and feeding them 
on mulberry leaves brought forward in a 
green-house. In the course of these experi- 
ments he observed that out of sixteen distinct 
colonies, reared from the eggs of non-corpus- 
culous moths, fifteen broods succeeded per- 
fectly, while the sixteenth was almost en- 
tirely cut off between their fourth moult and 
fig. 35.— worm the period of climbing to spin. Up to this 
died of flacherie. p j n ^ ^he worms evinced good health, like 
the others, and exhibited quite as robust an appearance, 
when they suddenly died. During a morning, from 
ten to twenty worms out of one hundred were picked 
up dead ; the same next clay, and so on until hardly 
any of the batch remained alive. The dead worms 




OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



189 



turned black, and became putrid with great rapidity, 
often within 'twenty-four hours ; and were generally soft 
and flabby. This disease could not be a case of pebrine ; 
none of the symptoms were present ; not even a single 
corpuscle, was the testimony of the microscope. What 
could be the cause of this sudden and fatal blight ? 
(Fig. 35). In order to get an answer, Pasteur changed 
the direction of his inquiry from the worm to its food, and 
there he found a reply. 

It is well known, that wherever silkworms are hatched 
and reared, the temperature is fairly high, and is provo- 
cative of fermentation in vegetable substances in a damp 
state. He accordingly crushed some mulberry leaves, 
along with a little distilled water, in a mortar, under 
suitable precautionary measures, and left the result alone 
for twenty-four hours. A microscopic examination then 
revealed numerous organisms — some at rest in the shape 
of rods, attached by the ends to one another like strings 
of bugles; and others moving about like the vibriones 
found in most organic fluids undergoing decomposition 
(Fig. 36). The next step in the investigation was to cut 
open the intestinal canal of a series of worms in perfect 
health, taken in the act of eating, also during a moult; 
but not the faintest trace of living microscopic organisms 
could be detected. After repeated experiments, all ending 
in the same manner, it became evident that the digestive 
power of a robust, healthy silkworm is so overmastering 
that everything it eats and swallows is assimilated like its 
legitimate food, the refuse passing harmlessly away. On 
the other hand, it became plain that any cause arising to 
impair or intermit this powerful process of absorption 
gave a chance of life to the numerous animalcules 
swallowed with the food, which, multiplying immediately, 
either caused the death of the worm at once, or weakened 
it for spinning, and rendered it unfit for reproduction. 
Lady Claud Hamilton, in the clever translation already 
referred to, says — " Summing up in a kind of aphorism a 



190 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



series of observations, Pasteur observes, ' Every ver flat 
is one which digests badly, and conversely every worm 
which digests badly is doomed to perish of flacherie, or to 
furnish a chrysalis and a moth, the life of which, through 
the injury produced by organised ferments, is not normally 
perfected.' " 

So much for the great physiologist's discoveries and 
remarks ; let the reader now turn for a few minutes 
to Mr. G-riffitt's practical everyday observations : — This 
gentleman's manuscripts state that the silkworm disease 
known as flacherie has been so named after the French 
provincial word flat (flaccid), on account of the flabby 
appearance the worms present when attacked by it. The 
disease is hereditary in the sense that worms hatched from 
eggs obtained from . a partially stricken moth are more 
liable to the malady on account of possessing less power of 
resistance, not that the intestinal parasites are transmitted 
through the eggs to future generations. It is also 
accidental and contagious, when proper sanitary steps 
have not been taken during the education of the worms. 
To the producer of graine it is not sufficient guarantee 
that the worms have all along up to their last age seemed 
free from disease, to relax his constant watchfulness ; he 
must now be specially on the alert to note the least 
abnormal symptom. Should there have occurred but few 
deaths among many thousands of worms at that period, and 
should the healthy display no hesitation when the time 
comes to march forward, like a determined little army, to 
storm the brushes, and immediately commence to spin their 
cocoons on their arrival there, the educator may feel certain, 
without any appeal to his microscope, that no hereditary 
flacherie is present, and use the resulting cocoons fearlessly 
for his next season's incubation. Should he, on the other 
hand, detect in the worms an indisposition to mount, and 
an inclination to lounge for days almost immovable at the 
bottom of the pine branches, he may give up all hope of 
obtaining robust eggs from their moths. He could get 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



191 



eggs of course, but with, the almost absolute certainty that 
their produce would prove an entire failure the following 
season. Silk he will obtain, and probably a fair crop, but 
the judicious sericulturist will stifle every cocoon, and not 
allow a single moth under such, circumstances to perpetuate 
its species. 

Following up M. Pasteur's experiments, Mr. Griffitt in- 
fected worms with flacherie, as he had already done with 
pebrine, as follows : — 

Experiments. 

I. He placed among a known number of perfectly 
healthy worms ten per cent, of worms hatched 
from graine obtained the previous season from 
moths smitten with flacherie. 
II. He fed an ascertained number of robust and 
diseaseless worms on mulberry leaves in a state 
of partial fermentation. 

III. He fed a similar number from the same batch of 
healthy worms with mulberry leaves sprinkled 
with water in which a crushed diseased worm 
had been stirred, with the result that scarcely a 
cocoon was spun by any of the three colonies 
detailed above. 

IV. The same treatment was given to batches of worms 
in their last age, when it was found that the 
power of the parasites was greatly reduced, as 
the worms generally had time to spin their 
cocoons before the disease was sufficiently 
developed to destroy them. 

The conclusions to be drawn from these experiments 
evidently are, that flacherie is eminently infectious ; that it 
is in a sense hereditary ; and that it may be induced at 
any stage by careless feeding ; and the lessons to be 
learned by the silk-farmer should be — (1) That constant 
watchfulness ought to be maintained in the nursery, not 
only regarding cleanliness and ventilation, but in order 



192 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ■ 



that any diseased worms which appear may be imme- 
diately separated from the healthy ; (2) That crowding, 
particularly during the first three ages, should be avoided ; 
and (3) That the farmer should be microscopically acquainted 
with the quality of the food administered, and be certain 
that the leaves are clean, fresh, dry, and free from the 
least trace of fermentation. 

Placing aside his own observations, Mr. Griffitt now re- 
turns to those of M. Pasteur, and gives a summary of the 
distinguished Frenchman's views on this dangerous disease. 
Referring to the organisms found in the intestinal canal 
of a worm which has died or been badly smitten with 
flaclierie, he says that the vibriones (Pigs. 36 and 37) retain 
their power of communicating disease for years, which is 
the main reason why this malady is so formidable. The 
germs may lie dormant for months in the dust of a nursery, 
yet bring them in contact with water, and in a few hours 
the microscope will display the dangerous things in full 
activity swarming in large numbers over the slide. When 
the disease has been the result of heredity it may be 
modified and even overcome by a frequent renewal of the 
air in the nursery, and by avoiding crowding the worms 
during their early ages. Indeed, these are the periods 
only when the teachings of science can be of any use, 
because, should the disease not be conquered to a great 
extent then, or should it be contracted before the third age, 
the little creatures are almost certain to perish ere they are 
ready to spin. 

Accidental flaclierie is due to the following well -ascer- 
tained causes, all of which, except one, are preventable : — 
I. By educating too many worms on a limited space ; 
II. By subjecting them to too high a temperature at 
moulting times ; 
III. By inattention to thorough and frequent venti- 
lation ; 

IY. By a sudden change in the weather, either to heat 
or cold ; 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 193 

V. By feeding the worms with heated or fermenting 
leaves ; 

VI. By feeding the worms with mulberry leaves wet 
with dew or rain ; 
VII. By suddenly altering the diet from a leaf with a 
soft fibre to one of a tougher nature less easy of 
digestion ; or 

VIII. By using the leaves taken from a mulberry tree 
which had been newly pruned. 




Fig. 36.— Vibriones op Flacherie. 



By any one of these means flacherie may be produced ; 
consequently, to be made acquainted with a certain number 
of well-known causes forearms the intending sericulturist 
against their occurrence. When, however, the disease 
appears in the last age of the worm as it is about to spin, 
it is owing, not to vibriones, but to organisms in the form 
of chaplets of small grains (Fig. 37). 

In this phase of the disease the worm is not prevented 

o 



194 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



spinning its cocoon, nor will the chrysalis fail to change into 
a moth, nor the moth to lay eggs, should it have strength to 
penetrate its silken prison ; but the progeny next season 
will either be diseased, or be ready for contagion to take 
root, and the whole brood will probably die of hereditary 
flacherie. In the event of the malady having been pro- 
duced by vibriones (Fig. 36) the worms in almost every 
instance succumb before the silk can be evacuated, but 
should a cocoon be actually formed it will be so flimsy and 




Fig. 37. — Ferments from Stomach of a Chrysalis, Chaplets of Grains, giving 
Evidence of Flacherie. 

light as to be of little value. It is therefore of the greatest 
consequence to the silk-farmer, who wishes to harvest a 
stock of eggs for the following season, to ascertain beyond 
a doubt the actual condition of his worms as regards the 
presence or absence of this disease during the last age. 
He should not be deceived by mere appearances. The 
cocoons spun may be large and attractive-looking, the 
moths when they emerge may seem perfectly healthy, and 
the graine laid all that could be desired ; yet if the conduct 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT 



195 



of the worms before mounting had not been closely watched, 
and the evidence of the microscope taken regarding any 
suspicious appearance, the farmer can only blame himself 
if he meet with disappointment and loss the following 
season through his educations being decimated or entirely 
destroyed by flacherie. 

The educator may be so situated, on occasion, that he 
requires to depend on some other source for cocoons from 
which to rear graine than his own nursery. In such cir- 
cumstances the microscope is necessary, and more careful 
manipulation is required than in the examination of moths. 
It is the chrysalis which demands his attention, and this, 
of course, can only be done properly a short time before the 




Fig. 38.— A Dissected Chrysalis. 



transformation in the ordinary series of events would have 
occurred. A number of cocoons are taken indiscriminately, 
each of which is carefully cut open with a pair of sharp- 
pointed scissors and the chrysalis removed. Fig. 38 
represents a chrysalis of the eighth day taken out of its 
cocoon and partly dissected, showing the chief internal 
organs. It will be seen that the stomach consists of two bags 
marked P S and P C, connected by a crooked tube. P S is 
the real stomach, which in a matured chrysalis is of a maroon 
colour ; while that marked P C fulfils rather the function of 
a bladder, as it holds the fluids the moth discharges before 
and after coupling. On the line marked m n cut the 
chrysalis in two, then sever the under-part, or thorax, of the 
larger portion. This accomplished, the ball PS will be 

o 2 



196 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



disclosed to view as represented in the sketch. Draw out 
the ball gently with a pair of small pincers, and as the 
alimentary canal which unites the two bags PS and PC 
has already been divided, the ball in question can easily be 
removed. Having released it from its place in the chrysalis, 
lay the ball on a slip of glass ; break the outer skin ; take 
from the inside substance an atom of the size of a pin's 
head ; mix it with a drop of distilled water, and subject it 
to examination under the microscope in the usual way. 
Should ferments in the form of small grains wreathed 
together (Fig. 37) appear on the disc of the microscopic 
slide, the examiner may feel assured that the education 
from which such diseased chrysalides were taken has been 
defective, and if he is wise he will not use one of the resulting 
moths for reproduction. 

It may be asked, why not test the chrysalides immediately 
the cocoons are formed, and so save time, instead of waiting 
a week or eight days ? The reason is this, when the 
chrysalis is formed the contents of its stomach are in a 
liquid condition, rendering examination correspondingly 
difficult ; but by waiting seven or eight days, until partial 
evaporation or absorption has occurred, the contents become 
thick and resinous, particularly where the chrysalis is 
perfectly healthy and the stomach free from ferments. 
Take, however, a chrysalis suffering from flacherie, when it 
will be plain to the eye that the contents of the stomach 
P S are more bulky, that the ball is larger, than is the case 
in health ; and that the colour, instead of being maroon, 
is dark green. 

Two other tests remain to be mentioned. Before silk- 
worms begin to spin they invariably rid themselves of fluid 
matter. Should, therefore, any individuals seem to labour 
under a difficulty in performing such evacuations, an 
evidence of the presence of flacherie is offered which should 
not be disregarded. The other test refers to moths 
which have parted with fluid before or after depositing 
eggs. In the healthy insect this ejection is colourless 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



197 



or pale yellow, whereas in the diseased it is grey or 
dark brown. 

Such are the two worst and most dreaded diseases of the 
silkworm ; but there is another of an extraordinary nature 
which demands a few words of explanation. It is named 



Muscakdine (Fig. 39) 

in France, and calcinetto in Italy. The French appellation 
arose from a fancied resemblance in the afflicted caterpillar 
to a sugar-plum made in Provence, and sold under the name 
of muscardine (Fig. 39) ; while the Italian designation refers 




Fig. 39.— Botkytis Bassiana, Silkworm Mildew. (Much magnified.) 



to the chalky or mealy appearance of the diseased worm's 
skin. 

Examined microscopically the grub is seen to be full of 
the sprouting spors of a minute cryptogamous plant or 
mildew named botrytis bassiana, which eventually pierce the 
skin and produce the mealy, chalky, or leprous aspect 
which has suggested the distinguishing names of the dis- 
temper. The little creature, thus impaled on hundreds of 
tiny, ever-growing stakes, could scarcely be expected long 
to survive : accordingly it generally dies ere it has had time 
to spin, and the fungus, gathering fresh strength from the 
worm's decay, ripens its noxious seeds, which, wind-borne, 
extend the contagion far and near. Fortunately, like most 



198 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



diseases which arise from neglect and filth, this one is 
now found to be well within human control, as it is caused 
originally by too high a temperature in the nursery acting 
upon quantities of fermenting refuse. Perfect cleanliness, 
copious ventilation, and the immediate removal of dead or 
infected worms are the three antidotes. In conclusion, it 
may be remarked that any other diseases known as yet to 
which the silk worm, is subject are merely modified forms of 
pebrine and flacherie. 



OR, NOTES FROM TEE LEVANT. 



199 



CHAPTEE XIV. 

USE OF THE MICROSCOPE IN SERICULTURE. 

Eeference has been made in the previous chapter, and in 
other parts of this work, to the aid rendered by the micro- 
scope in tracing the various diseases to which silkworms 
are subject, through some of their chief ramifications. 
Indeed, it may be freely acknowledged that without its 
assistance, in the hands of a master like M. Pasteur, the 
great industry of silk-producing, which for more than 
thirty years had been going headlong to utter ruin, would 
probably by this date have become extinct. Under these 
circumstances the reader will naturally expect that in a 
narrative of this kind a few pages should be devoted to 
the invaluable instrument, particularly as silk-farming, at 
no very distant day, may become an important calling in 
New Zealand and in other British possessions. Without 
further preface, therefore, with the help of my friend Mr. 
Griffitt's copious memoranda, and the vivid recollection of 
all I saw in that gentleman's beautifully-regulated nurseries 
and laboratory near Smyrna, this chapter will be devoted 
to some remarks on the proper use of the microscope in 
sericulture. 

The early history of the microscope, like that of some 
other notable inventions, is lost in obscurity ; but in its 
simplest stage, that of a single lens, it may safely be 
referred to a date long anterior to the time of Christ, at 
which period, as well as before and after, it appears to have 
been in use as a burning-glass. Two hundred and twelve 
years previously the greatest of the Greek mathematicians, 



200 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 

Archimedes, by means of lenses, succeeded in destroying- 
ships by the concentrated rays of the sun ; so that, if he 
was not the actual inventor of the simple microscope, to 
him is certainly due the credit of having produced the 
condenser, one of the most necessary adjuncts of the modern 
instrument. To Galileo the invention has also been 
ascribed during the period he was mathematical professor 
at Pisa or Padua, about the year 1592 ; but Dr. Henry 
Hallam, in his 'Literary History,' page 426, inclines to 
the belief that the microscope, as well as the telescope, 
originated in Holland. " Cornelius Drebbel," Hallam 
continues, " who exhibited the microscope in London about 
1620, has often passed for the inventor." Whoever the 
distinguished man may have been, a boon was conferred 
upon humanity which seems to have gained speedy ap- 
preciation among the learned, as we find that in 1657, 
1661 and 1690, eminent surgeons and others by means of 
their microscopes, and following up the grand discovery of 
the circulation of the blood by Harvey in 1628, demon- 
strated to the eye the flow of blood in the smaller vessels. 
Since these early days the microscope has been greatly 
improved, and become such a potent instrument in educa- 
tion that most branches of science possess modifications of 
it, contrived expressly for the particular inquiry in which 
the student may at the time be engaged. So helpful has 
tiie microscope proved in every department of scientific 
study that the question need no longer be asked as to 
which of the "ologies" it offers the greatest advantages; 
rather, it may be inquired, where is the science worthy the 
name which can now afford to relinquish its aid ? There 
is no medical man in these days of general intelligence 
but is dependent on his microscope to help him in his 
diagnosis of disease, in his search for the agent of crime, 
and in the discovery of, and putting to the blush, the 
clumsy adulterator of human food and drink. That which 
this wonderful weapon has already done for the human 
family in numberless cases of vital importance, it has 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



201 



condescended to effect, in the hands of one of the most 
distinguished Frenchmen of the present day, for the humble 
but valuable little silkworm. 

Except for ordinary and comparatively unimportant 
investigations, the simple microscope now gives place to 
the compound instrument, which varies in magnifying 
power from only a few to probably three thousand 
diameters, and may be purchased in every civilised country 
at prices equivalent to from a few shillings to £100, and 
even higher. For the special requirements of the seri- 
culturist very keen magnifying power and a large quantity 
of subsidiary apparatus are unnecessary. The Messieurs 
Nachet et tils, of No. 17 Kue St. Severin, Paris, manufacture 
a microscope with a magnifying capability of five hundred 
diameters, already alluded to at page 94, which is said to 
meet perfectly all the demands hitherto made in investi- 
gations connected with the jpebrine and flaclierie distempers ; 
and doubtless any of our own opticians could produce some- 
thing similar, equally good and cheap. This instrument 
consists of a metal tube with lenses at both ends, the larger 
glass or the ocular nearest the eye, and the smaller, named 
the objective, next the substance or liquid to be examined, 
with screw adjustment for focusing, and the whole attached 
to a substantial brass stand. It is unnecessary to enter 
upon the internal arrangements of this or any instrument 
of the kind, except to say that good as these microscopes 
undoubtedly are for the purpose intended, they would 
prove better if made with a double barrel, as the student 
could then use both his eyes, and so escape the great 
fatigue the single-barrelled glass at present imposes on 
the investigator. 

When an object is to be examined it is laid in a drop 
of pure water upon a clean glass slide, covered with a small 
thin film of prepared glass, then pushed under the objective 
until it is over the opening in the plate through which a 
stream of reflected light is projected from a little mirror below. 
One eye is closed and the other applied to the ocular, the 



202 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOB ; 



mirror of the microscope being at the same time adjusted until 
the slide and its contents are well illuminated, and the exact 
focus obtained with the thumb-screw. It will now be seen 
that the small lens is very close to the glass slide, so that 
care must be taken when removing the latter that the 
objective glass is not touched so as to be soiled or injured, 
as this part of the instrument is usually rather expensive 
to renew. Indeed it is safest for the investigator invariably 
to elevate the objective out of harm's way about half an 
inch or so every time a removal of the slide becomes 
necessary. 

Say that the student is now ready to commence, it will 
be well to see that all the necessary articles are at hand. 
In the first place everything must be absolutely — that is, 
chemically, clean, and be laid conveniently upon a solid, 
moderately-heavy, firmly-planted, dark-painted or stained 
wooden table, placed in front of a window with, if possible, 
a northern exposure. On the table there ought to be a 
sufficient number of glass slides, several tumblers in which 
to put the slides after they have been examined ; a box of 
round and square glass films for covering objects ; a pair or 
two of small, metal, tong-shaped pincers, with which to 
pick up *and conveniently hold slips, covers, and worms ; a 
glass rod for dipping out drops of water ; a pair of sharp- 
pointed scissors ; a small mortar of agate or enamelled 
porcelain in which to crush worms and moths ; a vessel 
containing water for washing the mortar, or a convenient 
tap connected with a water-pipe (if the former, the means 
of drawing off the water by the aid of a siphon made of 
rubber tube closed at the outside extremity with a spring) ; 
some fragments of old clean linen of fine texture for wiping 
the glasses ; and a bucket, in the absence of a sink, to 
receive the slops, placed under the siphon. 

Thus equipped, the examiner seats himself upon a stool, 
or armless chair, so that he may have perfect freedom of 
motion in the performance of his work. The microscope 
should be placed towards his left hand, with the vessel of 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



203 



washing water, or tap, on his right. The shutters of the 
window having been previously arranged so as to admit the 
necessary amount of light, he fills his siphon, gives a final 
glance over the table, and is ready to begin. 

With regard to the light, particularly in such favoured 
countries as Asia Minor, and the north of New Zealand, it 
may be remarked that the degree of natural illumination 
pouring in at an uncovered window might prove both hurt- 
ful and fatiguing to the eyes of the student, hence the 
necessity of shutters, and of their careful arrangement. It 
should be remembered, also, that a direct glare from the 
sun would prove altogether unsuitable ; hence the preference 
given to a northern exposure. But of all the conditions 
most favourable to the species of microscopic research 
under review, a cloudy day is preferable, during which the 
mirror of the instrument can be directed towards a mass of 
pure white vapour resting motionless on the upper sky, 
when a soft and agreeable degree of light will be obtained. 

Let us suppose that the operator's first essay is the 
examination of a worm for the proof of suspected corpuscu- 
lous disease. He takes up one with his forceps, drops it 
into the mortar, and crushes it along with a few drops of 
distilled water obtained from a bottle by means of his glass 
rod. When the worm is reduced to pulp, the edge of the 
pestle smeared with remains is lightly touched upon the 
centre of a slide, leaving a drop upon the slip, which is 
immediately covered with a little glass film; care being 
taken not to spread the fluid beyond the cover on gently 
pressing it to expel the air. Placed under the microscope 
many appearances meet the eye. There are fragments of 
the worm's skin, portions of its viscera, globules of fat, air- 
cells, crystals, and, it may be, corpuscles. These crystals 
are occasionally of the same size and shape as young cor- 
puscles ; consequently, great care should be taken lest the 
two objects be confounded with one another. In order to 
determine the exact character of the appearances, the little 
glass cover should be slightly touched, so as to cause a 



204 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



change in the position of the matter underneath, as more 
fully explained a little further on. The various objects 
just enumerated are not seen altogether under one focus ; 
they occupy different situations in the liquid between the 
two glasses ; so, when any of them appears on the disc, it is 
necessary to keep turning the stage thumb-screws in order 
that nothing may escape the observation, and that all sides 
of each object may be noted. 

The full-grown corpuscle is easily distinguishable by its 
shape and brilliancy, its oval or circular outline shaded and 
well-defined (Fig. 32). As the corpuscles float across the 
disc — which they continue to do with considerable speed for 
a short time, on account of currents in the liquid between 
the slips of glass — they at one moment appear oval, and the 
next circular. This curious change is accounted for by the 
explanatory fact that the real form of a corpuscle is similar 
to that of an egg. When the great axis, or its length, is 
presented towards the observer, it appears to be oval ; but 
should one of its ends only be seen, the corpuscle is at once 
pronounced to be round. In this way both observations 
are correct, and the peculiarity of shape serves to distin- 
guish the germ of the deadly parasite from globules of fat. 
crystals, or air-cells, which are always circular, and in the 
case of the crystals, angular. It is necessary, then, that 
the student, while his eye is looking down the tube of the 
microscope, should slightly press, and slightly move, from 
time to time, the little glass cover with the point of a pencil 
or needle, in order that the corpuscles, if present, should be 
made to revolve, assuming in succession the oval and 
circular aspects. Should no change from the spherical 
forms, after repeated trials, be detected, the observer may 
rest assured that his suspicions of pebrine were groundless. 
The crystals being rectangular in shape, when their edges 
are presented to the eye, nothing is seen except a dark line ; 
when in full view, they cannot be mistaken for anything 
else. It is possible that the repeated moving of the little 
glass film may cause the liquid underneath to spread beyond 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT 



205 



its bounds, and the slightest want of attention may bring 
the objective of the microscope in contact with it. Should 
this happen, the glass must be wiped immediately, or, if 
necessary, unscrewed and washed. 

Having become familiar with the various aspects of the 
microscopic disc, both under circumstances of disease and 
health, the student should lose no time in commencing a 
register of his work for future reference, carefully noting 




Fig. 40.— Counting Corpuscles. 



the exact number of corpuscles seen on each field. As an 
assistance towards this end, the disc of the microscope is 
supposed to be divided into four equal parts, thus (Fig. 40). 
The corpuscles on one quarter being counted with a fair 
approach to accuracy, the sum multiplied by four will give 
the approximate total. Such figures ought to be carefully 
registered, together with dates, full particulars of the worms, 
moths, or graine examined, and any other information likely 



206 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOB ; 

to prove useful by way of comparison on future occasions. 
It ought also to be recollected that, as only a small portion 
of the matter under the little glass film can be seen at one 
time, namely, that part immediately under the objective, 
the slide must be gently moved about after each inspection, 
so as to lay the whole surface gradually open to the eye. 
In order to do this accurately, some microscopes are fitted 
with a useful little double-screw arrangement, by which the 
brass stage, on which the slide rests and is temporarily 
fixed, can be moved some distance backwards, forwards, and 
sideways, thus enabling the manipulator, not only to survey 
every hair's-breadth of the slide, but to return to discs 
already examined by simply keeping a note of the threads 
of the screws. The inspection being completed, the slide is 
withdrawn and placed in clean water, or the process may be 
repeated as often as necessary, when the contents of the 
mortar are burnt, and the vessel carefully washed, ready 
for the next examination. 



Inspecting foe Kepkoduction. 

When the sericulturist is desirous of ascertaining if an 
" education " be fit for yielding eggs to be used for reproduc- 
tion the following season, a number of fresh cocoous are 
taken promiscuously from the brushes, one here, another 
there, at intervals, all over the crop. These are placed in a 
room heated artificially several degrees above the tempera- 
ture of the nursery. By this method the moths develop 
sooner and issue some days earlier than would otherwise be 
the case. As soon as they leave their cocoons they are 
examined microscopically, the wings having been removed, 
and should more than ten per cent, of them show traces of 
disease, the whole batch from which the cocoons were taken 
is stifled, and handed over to the silk-reelers to be un- 
wound. On the other hand, if less than ten per cent, are 
corpusculous, or are wholly free from pebrine, they are 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



207 



allowed to remain ; the moths issue in due time, pair, lay 
their eggs, which are placed aside for incubation the 
following season. 

Should eggs be the subject of microscopic examination, 
the aid of the mortar is not required. After a globule of 
distilled water has been placed upon a clean glass slide, a 
few eggs are dropped into it, then gently broken by pressure. 
The shells having been carefully removed, the liquid on the 
slide is covered with a glass film, and slid underneath the 
objective of the instrument. It need scarcely be said that 
the examination of graine in this manner is a peculiarly 
delicate operation; it affords less certain results than a 
similar inspection of the moth or worm, and can be under- 
taken satisfactorily only by persons well-acquainted with, 
and who have had large experience in, microscopic 
manipulation. The strain on the eye and the exertion of 
the mind are very considerable lest symptoms of disease 
should escape the observation, as the examiner well knows 
that the discovery of even one single corpuscle indicates a 
serious degree of pebrinous contamination. On the other 
hand, should the microscopist have sat down to his task 
labouring under a load of suspicion, and yet find nothing to 
justify it, he will be apt to fear that his dexterity, his 
eyesight, or his instrument has been at fault, and that his 
punishment awaits him the following year. He knows that 
the disease may even be there in a latent state, although the 
evidences of it are wholly invisible to his watchful eye. 
The same may indeed be said of the worm and of the 
chrysalis, which at one stage may be non-corpusculous, and 
yet evince signs of pebrine during a later age. The matter, 
in short, may be described as comprising a series of four 
steps in a difficult and important scrutiny, each of which is 
less obscure and involved than the previous one ; the egg 
being the first and most troublesome, and the examination 
of the moth the easiest and most satisfactory. It will be 
evident, therefore, that with our present degree of knowledge 
the microscopical testing of silkworm's eggs for disease can 



208 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



hardly be reckoned satisfactory even in the hands of the 
most skilful searcher, because his discoveries can prove 
nothing beyond the contents of the slide upon which he 
may happen to have been engaged. Instead of spending 
time in this way, the farmer will find it to be his interest to 
make absolutely sure of his graine by a previous examina- 
tion of the moths which deposited it, and the adoption of 
Pasteur's Cellular System already explained in Chapter XI. 
Indeed, no better conclusion to this part of the subject 
could be suggested than that sage advice given by the 
great physiologist in his ' Etudes sur la Maladie des Vers a 
Soie,' where he says, as translated by Lady Claud 
Hamilton : — " If I were a cultivator of silkworms I would 
never hatch an egg produced from worms that I had not 
observed many times during the last days of their life, so 
as to make sure of their vigour at the moment when they 
spin their silk. If you use eggs produced by moths the 
worms of which have mounted the heather with agility, 
have shown no signs oiflacherie between the fourth moulting 
and mounting time, and do not contain the least corpuscle 
of pebrine, then you will succeed in all your cultivations." 

When microscopical examination is over for the day, the 
instrument and all its adjuncts should be carefully wiped 
and put aside, perfect cleanliness and order being virtues 
which every scientific investigator should cultivate. The 
glass slides are easily managed, but the little thin glass 
films or covers are rather fragile and apt to be fractured 
with the least rough handling. After having lain in water 
for some time, the best treatment is to remove them gently 
to a sheet of white blotting-paper, which will absorb the 
excess of moisture and present them ready for being wiped 
with a thin clean linen cloth kept solely for that purpose. 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



209 



CHAPTER XV. 

AGRICULTURE AEOUND SMYRNA. 

Nowhere, perhaps, are better farmers and gardeners to be 
found than those of Scotland, for the good reason that few 
regions of the earth demand greater skill and perseverance 
on the part of the agriculturist than the " land of brown 
heath and shaggy wood." In many districts of Europe, 
Asia, and America the farmer requires to do little more 
than tickle the teeming clods with a hoe and sow his seed, 
when forthwith his acres laugh with plenty ; but in rough 
old Caledonia, so loved of her sons, although at times she 
behaves so scurvily towards them, the hardest labour aided 
by the grandest of horses, the best machinery, and the 
choicest seed often fail to produce the barest living or keep 
the wolf from the door. Under such circumstances it is 
scarcely wonderful if the longing eyes of the Scotch farmer 
and peasant, in these days of improved geographical and 
other education, should sometimes stray with envy towards 
less inhospitable climes than their own. It is true that 
annually a few of the more determined and ambitious 
spirits among them, after much thought and hesitation, cut 
themselves adrift from the old country and emigrate to one 
or other of her distant colonies, yet by far the greater 
number remain at home to pass grumblingly through the 
same weary and unprofitable round of toil as their ancestors ; 
while a limited section, who have so far profited by reading 
as to appreciate the advantages offered by the beautiful 
regions bordering the blue Mediterranean, must often 
wonder if along those classic shores there remain no 

p 



210 



PUN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR; 



openings for them. It was partly with the view of aiding 
such inquirers with a few facts, as well as endeavouring to 
interest readers generally in the subject of agriculture in 
one important district of Asiatic Turkey, that some of 
these notes were originally penned. 

Asia Minor is a large territory exceeding in area 200,000 
square miles, situated at various levels from the vast fertile 
yet occasionally neglected plains of the seaboard to the 
high table lands of the interior, perched at altitudes 
mounting from 2400 to 5000 feet. It is mostly of volcanic 
origin, and contains many cones which formerly were doubt- 
less in a state of frequent irruption. Among these is the 
volcano named Agridagh, possessing two craters which 
tower to the sublime height of 13,000 feet above the sea, 
and 10,000 feet above the adjoining plain. The average 
climate is reckoned as similar to that of the south of 
Europe, although upon the bare and waterless steppes the 
heat and cold are equally intense. Towards the south, 
mild winters and scorching summers prevail, near the 
iEgean Sea the characteristic is temperate mildness united 
with almost tropical vegetation ; and no more delightful 
region for climate and richness of soil is said to be any- 
where known than that extending between Trebizond and 
the Sea of Marmora. Having such wide limits within 
which to choose, it would indeed be strange if land suited 
to any and every taste and requirement could not be found, 
but it is more particularly to the vilayet of Aidin — a 
magnificent region, measuring over 250 by 220 miles, or 
considerably more than three times the size of Perthshire, — 
recently* under the able sway of Governor-General Hadji 
Nachid Pasha, and the district in it near Smyrna, that the 
attention of the reader is now to be directed. 

In whatever direction the inquiring eye looks, the same 
kind of loose, light, easily-worked soil, full of limestone 

* Since these notes were first put together, this amiable yet firm and 
enlightened officer has been promoted to the wider and more responsible 
charge of Syria. 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 211 

debris, is seen. Where former hollows and ravines have 
been filled up to the prevailing level by the forces of 
nature or the lapse of time, the deposit is of unknown 
depth and of surpassing fertility, while in other places the 
loam forms only a thin coating over a smooth, shelving 
limestone strata; but nearly everywhere, upon the plains 
or gentle slopes, it is of sufficient thickness for profitable 
cultivation, even with the bullock ploughs and other rude 
means at present at the disposal of the farmers. Such soil 
and such a dry climate, whilst quite unsuited for tea culti- 
vation, is admirably adapted for the vine, the olive, and the 
mulberry, vast plantations of which, intermingled with 
cereal, root, fruit, and other crops, are common. Among 
the usual farming products of the district are, or rather 
were, madder roots, before the extended use of aniline 
colours in Europe threw this crop rather into the shade ; 
soft and hard wheat of the finest quality, the latter 
specially well adapted for the preparation of macaroni ; 
barley, oats, beans, pease, oranges, lemons, almonds, figs, 
pomegranates, liquorice root, and the already mentioned 
vines, olives, and mulberries. Indeed, it may be truthfully 
alleged that there is hardly a garden or farm product of 
Europe or America which is not or could not be success* 
fully cultivated within the great vilayet of Aldin ; with the 
important advantage of a never-failing market on the spot 
for many of the crops, and a cheap outlet by sea for any 
surplus of future years, when the vast plains and fertile 
slopes near Smyrna shall have become tenanted by an 
improving race of scientific farmers unprejudiced by the 
agricultural legends and superstitions of past ages. Already 
the plodding perseverance of a German syndicate has clothed 
several hundred acres of the mountain slopes between 
the beautifully-situated village of Koukloudjah (Fig. 41) 
and Smyrna with vines for wine manufacture ; and doubt- 
less the Teutonic element, now being introduced among the 
population, will not tend towards diminution so long as 
Prince Bismarck's roving eye sees in Asia Minor a possibly 

p 2 



212 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR; 



future inheritance. It may be pointed out, also, that in 
the cultivation of the mulberry alone a magnificent branch 
of husbandry awaits development. The silk industry is 
evidently destined soon to assume far more than its former 
dimensions, for the prosecution of which the immediate 
plantation of millions of mulberry shrubs will scarcely be 
adequate. Through the great exertions of a single English- 
man, Mr. John Griffitt, of Bournabat, already mentioned 
repeatedly in these pages, the various silkworm maladies 




Fig. 41. — Kockloudjah, near Smyrna. Old Olive Trees. 

have now been prostrated before the irresistible finger of 
science, with the grand result, detailed further on in 
Chapter XIX. 

In order to give a commercial idea of what the vilayet of 
Aidin is like at the present moment, the following statistics, 
from the pen of His Excellency Hussein Hilmi EfTendi, are 
culled from the Journal de Smyrna of the 9th May. After 
strenuously advocating the establishment of a " Statistical 
Bureau " for each province, according to the model adopted 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



213 



in Europe, this distinguished officer plunges into figures 
thus : — 

" The population of our vilayet has increased during the 
past year by 66,237, through the more or less permanent 
settlement of the neighbouring nomadic tribes in our midst, 
who have reared during the same period 9397 dwellings. 
The actual census of the whole population, not yet quite 
finished, shows a total of 1,052,115 inhabitants, to which, it 
is believed, some 400,000 remain to be added. The popula- 
tion of Smyrna is — Mussulmans, 52,196 ; Greeks, 71,083 ; 
Armenians, 4498 ; and Jews, 18,632 ; or a total of 146,409. 
Administratively the vilayet is divided into 5 sandjaks, 38 
caras, 46 nahies, and 2454 villages. During the past two 
years 150 kilometres (or over 93 miles) of carriage roads 
have been made. The vilayet possesses 1,393,000 sheep, 
and 1,575,000 goats. The area covered by forests is about 
10,000,000 denoums (about 6365 acres), and the annual 
amount collected on account of the agricultural tax is 
£161,185. Without reckoning the revenue derived through 
the Custom House, and arising from the six indirect sources, 
the budget of the vilayet amounts to £897,433, against 
£271,290 of expenses. During last year 3507 vessels under 
the Ottoman flag, the tonnage of which amounted to 
108,013 tons, entered the port of Smyrna ; also 1838 foreign 
flags of 1,051,896 tons. The value of exports to Europe 
during the same period came to £2,474,700, and for other 
parts of the world, £30,000 ; whilst the imports from Europe 
showed a total of £2,311,658. During the past year minerals 
to the value of £150,000 have been extracted from the mines, 
consisting of emery-stone, zinc, sulphur, anthracite, man- 
ganese, lead, copper, chrome, antimony, marble, porphyry, 
amianthus, iron, lignite, &c. Two great rivers pass through 
the vilayet, the Mseander, which runs for 300 kilometres 
(over 186 miles), and the Hermus, 233 kilometres (over 144 
miles). The two highest mountains are Tmolus, which is 
1500 metres in height, and the highest point of Cadmus is 
2500 metres." 



214 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



At this point a short digression may be permitted in the 
interests of the Liberal and more enlightened, because 
better educated party in Turkey. The rising young officer 
whose statistical remarks have just been quoted, is what in 
this country of ours would be called a self-made man. Of 
humble origin, he has risen by perseverance, study, rectitude, 
and sheer ability to a position in the Civil Service which 
carries with it by right the title of " Excellency." For 
some years he had been secretary to the government of the 
province in which Smyrna is situated, and on the recent 
promotion of his superior, Hadji Nachid Pasha, to the 
governorship of Syria, Hussein Hilmi Effendi accompanied 
him thence to occupy a similar position. 

It may also be interesting to the young reader to add 
that the latter gentleman attributes much of his success to 
the training he received under the celebrated Kemal Bey, 
the present governor of the island of Khodes, during a 
former period when administering the affairs of the lovely 
island of Mitylene. Kemal Bey is, and has for many years 
been, recognised as the chief poet, dramatist, and historian 
of Turkey. His tragedies, written some in Turkish and 
some in French, are highly commended, and his history of 
his country is considered the best extant. During the reign 
of the late Sultan Abdul Aziz, the distinguished literateur 
became an exile on account of the blunt honesty and frank 
liberality of his political opinions, and some of his foreign 
and other friends think that his present position at Rhodes, 
for a man of his great ability, is little better than a shabby 
postponement of release from the original firman of expatria- 
tion. Under this eminent man, Hussein Hilmi Effendi was 
trained along with many others of the present Young 
Turkey Party, and it speaks volumes for the master that all 
of his disciples now fill important positions in the Turkish 
Civil Service. 

In a thirsty land such as that of Asia Minor it will be 
rightly inferred that during the heats of spring and 
summer copious irrigation is necessary, yet there is 

* 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



215 



seldom any complaint of the lack of water over a strata 
so charged with this invaluable fluid. Little rivers and 
streams are numerous, particularly near the base of the 
intersecting hills or mountain ranges ; fountains and 
springs gush forth at the most unexpected places ; and 
wells, being cheaply and easily dug, are to be found dotted 
all over the towns, villages, hamlets, and country places, 
wherever human beings have made their homes or settled 
down to any kind of industry. Of the natural fountains 
near Smyrna, the most interesting is that named by the 
Turks Halka (iron ring), Bounar (a spring), doubtless an 
allusion to the irregularly circular form of the pond ; and 
by Europeans " Diana's bath," on account of a colossal 
marble statue of that goddess having a few years ago been 
found under the water. The locality is also notable as 
being one of the spots assigned by tradition to the birth- 
place of Homer, and as adjoining the grotto where the 
grand old poet wrote his ' Iliad ' ; but poet, birthplace, and 
grotto have all disappeared, whilst the fountain, bubbling 
up over a majestic basin of three and a half acres in extent, 
is as copious as ever, and, after driving some extensive 
mills, forms the river Meles, and flows leisurely away 
towards the Bay of Smyrna.* 

Another example of a natural and never-failing water 
supply occurs a short distance above the little town of 
Nymphio, about twelve miles from the great port of Asia 
Minor. At that spot four springs issue from the limestone 
crags at points very near each other, and unite into a 
considerable mountain torrent, which, gathering force and 
volume as it advances through a narrow valley, drives 
the wheels of no less than eight flour-mills ere it roaches 
the town. Flowing boisterously through the streets of 
Nymphio it supplies all that cleanliness requires, then 
passes downwards to irrigate the extensive gardens a ad 
cherry orchards in the plain beneath. 

But even the best soil and climate, with water ad libitum, 
* See footnote regarding the river Meles, Chapter IV. p 52. 



216 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR; 



might fail to tempt the Scottish farmer from his heather 
and whins unless he knew that plenty of willing human 
muscles could be had for fair wages in the country under 
review. Accordingly, the long-headed agriculturist of the 
north is assured that this is what is continually happening. 
So attractive is the neighbourhood of Smyrna as a field for 
labour, and, unfortunately, also as a theatre for the exercise 
of nomadic proclivities, that thousands of the population 
of the adjoining Greek and other islands flock annually 
thither to make money with greater speed than would be 
possible within the circumscribed limits of their own bare, 
rocky homes. Among the most successful of these in- 
dustrious cultivators are the Ionians, of whom some 40,000 
are now permanently settled in the vilayet. These hardy 
sons of toil leave their own narrow valleys a set of ragged- 
looking vagabonds, and migrating to a land of plenty in 
a few years become rich. The erewhile tatterdemalion 
from classic Ithaca, Cephalonia, or any of the other islands, 
soon becomes the happy owner of vineyards, orchards, and 
olive plantations, dresses on holidays in all the picturesque 
splendour of the Greek costume, and ere he is much beyond 
middle age would scarcely feel flattered at being mistaken 
by a stranger for a cousin of King George. 

On the other hand, a set of less desirable visitors, like 
the Irish reapers of the olden, and agitators of modern 
times to England and Scotland, turn their faces every 
season Smyrnaward. These are the begging impostors 
from Scio, Mitylene, and some other islands not Ionian, 
who, during the period their own crops are growing at 
home, pass over in shoals to Smyrna to loaf on the com- 
munity. Haunting the archways, the quays, the railway 
stations, the streets, and even the konak, these sturdy 
mendicants, with pitiful gestures, spacious tales, and some- 
times tears, endeavour to engage the sympathies and secure 
the coin of the passers-by. How little worthy of charity 
such scoundrels are and how thoroughly they deserve the 
treadmill may be gathered from the following anecdote : — 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



217 



A short time ago a letter was picked up in one of the 
wards of the Greek Hospital which had been written, and 
accidentally dropped, by a pauper visitor to a recently 
discharged patient. Its purport was as follows : — 

"Dear Father, — Leave the plough and come here. 
This is the land, the promised land, of milk and honey. 
Take up your staff and come without delay ! Bring 
your bag, and soon it will be replenished with the 
whitest of bread, and your pockets be lined with 
chinking piastres. I make my medjid (about 3s. 8d.) 
a day out of the poor fools who fill our wallets and 
purses when they are so much worse off than we." 

Thus, in addition to the indigenous labour always to be 
found within the country, there is generally plenty of new, 
honest Ionian muscle over and above the mendicant ele- 
ment from the Archipelago — an element which, in the hands 
of a despotic Government like that of Turkey, could easily 
be compelled to work or immediately leave the mainland. 

In the vicinity of Smyrna the average cost of ordinary 
field labour is about 2s. 6d. a day of 1\ hours, commencing 
at seven and finishing at four, with intervals amounting to 
\\ hours. Indoor female work, on the other hand, such as 
tending silkworms, is paid for at the rate of six piastres, or 
one shilling and three pence per clay of fourteen hours. 
A little farther away, at Vourla, the cost is about 3s. 8d., 
but the day is reckoned from six to six, less 1^ hours for 
meals and rest, or a working period of 10J hours; whilst 
up in the interior, about 150 miles away, the peasant is 
quite content to receive for his labour the equivalent of 
one shilling a day of indefinite length. The average agri- 
cultural value of land is less easily ascertained by the 
stranger passing only a few months in the country, as so 
many circumstances foreign to his home experience require 
to be taken into consideration. As a rule, however, where 
the authorities are dealt with direct, the terms are very 
favourable, particularly for the small agriculturist corre- 



218 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR; 



sponding to the British crofter. Take, for example, the 
easy and liberal arrangement made with the planters of 
new vineyards where none existed before. The vine, it 
need scarcely be said, is an important source of wealth in 
Asia Minor, and its culture has been materially increased 
within the last thirty years, more particularly since the 
phylloxera pest became prevalent in France. From the 
vine the people obtain their treacle, preserves, wine, 
raki, spirit of wine, and vinegar. About six years ago 
the hills behind the village of Bournabat, a few miles 
out of Smyrna, were covered with jungle, and useless ; 
they are now, to a considerable extent, clothed with vines, 
belonging, in every instance, to families who were once 
the poorest peasants. Their method of reclamation is 
as follows : — Each person makes a selection on those hills, 
and during his leisure hours, after his usual employ- 
ment, clears away the bush, which sells for firewood at a 
remunerative price. When the land is free it is planted 
with vines, the same routine being repeated season after 
season until the vineyard is as large as he and his family 
can manage. As the planted areas are successively com- 
pleted, a Government officer measures the land occupied, 
and the peasant pays at the rate of one medjid* per doloon 
— a doloon being forty square paces — when he becomes the 
proprietor, and in a surprisingly short time little inde- 
pendent revenues of £30 to £50 a year are realised. In 
the course of time the vineyards increase to breadths of 
three to ten acres, and when owned by sober, industrious 

* The largest silver coin of Turkey is the " medjid d'argent," and the 
smallest, the piastre. The value of the former is usually 3s. 4<d. } and the 
latter from 2d. to 2%d., consequently the British sovereign is worth six of 
the first, or one hundred and ten of the second. 

To be fairly accurate with this square measure of land, it is sometimes 
spelt "donoum," and consists of 40 x 40 pikes = 1600 square pikes, or 
about 1050 square yards. A British square acre contains 4840 square 
yards, consequently a donoum is considerably less than quarter of an acre. 
In measures of length for rough calculations, one yard may be reckoned 
as equal to one and a half pikes Turkish. 



OR, NOTES FROM TEE LEVANT. 



219 



men, as most of them are, the income derived places them 
in a position of great comfort. One race of peasant farmers 
known as the Kara Giorghis, who some years ago worked as 
day-labourers at seven piastres per day (a little over one 
shilling), now draw from their vineyards equal to £600 a 
year. Forty years ago nearly all the vineyards round 
Smyrna belonged to Mohammedans, but since the abolition 
of forced labour the thrifty, intelligent Greeks have fairly 
bought out the Turks. It was probably owing to this 
change of ownership that the former curse of brigandage 
was suffered so long to exist, seeing that the Greeks and 
not the faithful followers of the Prophet were the chief 
sufferers. Fortunately the late governor, Hadji Nachid 
Pasha, thoroughly stamped out this nuisance, and the 
present viceroy is said to be equally determined to con- 
tinue the same wise policy. 

On the other hand, it will be found occasionally that an 
endeavour to secure an eligible site for farming operations 
from private individuals is far from encouraging, where 
facilities exist for the rapid conveyance of produce to a 
market. An illustration may be given in the magnificent 
plain which extends to the north of the Tmolus range of 
mountains, and is bounded on its northern side by the 
river Hermus, which debouches in the Bay of Smyrna. 
About midway on the north side of this vast meadow stand 
the ruins of ancient Sardis, and between this site and the 
mountain range all the territory for many miles formerly 
belonged to the noble Turkish family of Carasman Oglou 
(son of the black Osman). During the time of the first 
proprietor and for centuries after, this land, although 
eminently fertile, possessed no value except for cattle- 
rearing, and parts of it were gradually alienated and became 
the property of families of industrious Greeks, who, for 
mutual protection, assembled themselves together in the 
little village of Chobanissa, a few miles from the large town 
of Magnesia-under-Sipylus. In the course of time a line of 
railway was constructed along the banks of the Hermus 
from Smyrna to Philadelphia, passing through this little 



220 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR; 



Greek village, with the result that property at once rose in 
value, and cannot now be had under from £16 to £40 per 
acre. Another interesting fact may be mentioned, as elucida- 
tive of the grasping, unscrupulous spirit of petty thieving 
which is not confined to the worst specimens of shrivelled 
squirearchy at home. When the Greeks of Chobanissa 
began to look somewhat successful and comfortable in their 
well-kept little farms and orchards, the representative of the 
black Osman family, who had been through extravagance 
drifting backwards in worldly prosperity, made a claim 
upon the honest crofters for pasturage rent, demanded 
compensation for space occupied by roads, and a slump sum 
for their village green. His intended victims, in no sense 
daunted and secure of their position and rights by docu- 
mentary evidence and the best legal advice, defied the 
great landowner, on the very plain fought over two thousand 
years before by Cimmerians, Persians, Medes, Macedonians, 
Ionians, Athenians, and the great monarchs Sesostris and 
Darius — beating him and his myrmidons in every encounter 
both on the field and in court, and remain at the present 
moment masters of the situation. 

Not one of the least important considerations for a 
proposing settler in any country is the rate and kind of 
taxation. In Asia Minor this is somewhat heavy, being a 
charge of twelve per cent, upon all crops. Formerly it was 
ten per cent., and was then very properly called a tithe ; 
but within recent years two per cent, additional has been 
added, to establish a fund to be expended on the making of 
roads. The money has been faithfully collected, and it is 
to be hoped that under judicious management every year 
will see the teeming country more thoroughly opened up, 
and prepared for the important operations of the capitalist. 
There is also a land-tax levied upon the space occupied, 
likewise a small impost per head on cattle, horses, sheep, 
goats, and other domestic animals. While on this topic, 
and in order to deal impartially with the subject, it may 
be mentioned that although the taxpayers' expenditure 
hitherto has been considerable, the Government officials 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



221 



have not been standing still, for the greatest curse of the 
country, brigandage, has been entirely suppressed ; and 
one may now wander from one extremity of the vilayet to 
the other without precautions or fear. There is, however, 
another source of anxiety to the farmer which might, and 
doubtless soon will, be mitigated, if not entirely removed. 
Among the hills, at a distance of probably half-a-dozen 
miles from the towns or villages, wolves still range, and 
sometimes destroy domestic animals sent there for the fresh 
pasture in spring. Wolves are proverbially cowardly and 
have never been known to attack human beings among 
these heights, but goats and mares with foals occasionally 
fall victims to their audacity. As cultivation spreads 
farther and farther into the interior, so will these vermin 
undoubtedly retreat ; but meanwhile the active soldiery of 
Smyrna, who lately gave such a good account of the brigands, 
might be profitably exercised every spring and autumn in 
wolf-hunting, thus keeping their hands in as marksmen, 
and saving an industrious class from many a disaster. 

This is hardly the place or the occasion for attempting 
to exhibit the contrasts which exist between Asiatic and 
British methods and implements of agriculture. It should 
not be forgotten that although the records of civilisation in 
Asia Minor are probably the most ancient in the world, 
the country has suffered more than any other from wars, 
invasions, rebellions, and natural convulsions, consequently 
the arts and sciences which once flourished so resplendently 
at Ephesus, Sardis, Philadelphia, Smyrna, Pergamos, 
Thyatira, Laodicea, Hierapolis, and other great centres, are 
only of late years being revived. The district of Aidin 
possesses now two railways, besides branches ; roads are 
being constructed, protection to life and property is well 
assured, and the way is daily being made smoother for the 
sturdy capitalist farmer who will come, accompanied by his 
steam ploughs and diggers, his traction engines and 
thrashing machines, and once more make Asia Minor one 
of the gardens of the world. 



222 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR; 



CHAPTER XVI. 

FKAUDULENT INSUKEKS IN SMYKNA. 
w 

An Italian lady replying to a young friend who had con- 
sulted her regarding his prospects and intended sojourn at 
Smyrna, with the object of endeavouring to rebuild the 
shattered fortunes of his family, said, " My son, beware of 
the three scourges of the Levant." " What are these, good 
mother ? " " Two of them, my boy, you will soon become 
painfully acquainted with, namely, fire and the dragoman ; 
the third, Heaven forbid that you should ever experience — 
it is the plague ! " The words of the old contessa, uttered 
an unknown number of years ago, like many famed apo- 
thegms of wisdom, however applicable when spoken, require 
modification at the present hour. To take the last scourge 
first : although Smyrna may not yet be all that the sanitary 
engineer could wish, its condition is infinitely better than 
when the terrible " Black Death " of the Middle Ages swept 
through Asia and Europe, and its inhabitants are less likely, 
under the skill of so many able doctors as are settled there, 
to again fall victims, in large numbers, to the plague. It 
is true that the individual dragoman, here and there, may 
still prove an occasional thorn in the flesh, but it would be 
unfair to condemn a most useful, and in many cases, indis- 
pensable class of men for the shortcomings of a few. Un- 
fortunately the first scourge alluded to by the ancient dame 
remains, not only unconquered, but, on the whole, more 
prevalent than at the time when Lord Keeper Bacon, on 
opening Queen Elizabeth's first Parliament, said, "Doth 



OR, NOTE 8 FROM THE LEVANT. 



223 



not the wise merchant, in every adventure of clanger, give 
part to have the rest assured ? " It is to some of the 
circumstances connected with this unhappy state of matters 
that the following remarks apply. 

Midnight conflagrations in cities and towns nearer home, 
particularly in winter, are not so scarce that astonishment 
need be expressed at their greater frequency in Smyrna, 
when it is remembered how largely wood enters into the 
construction of houses, and how universal is the practice of 
smoking among all classes everywhere. Still, after making 
every allowance for the inflammability of the houses 
generally all along the Levant, there remains a serious 
percentage of annual fires attributed solely to the villainous 
work of the slinking incendiary. Under such circumstances 
some of the resident agents of home insurance companies — 
for the Smyrniotes are enthusiastic insurers — have been 
blamed with a degree of recklessness for accepting doubtful 
risks, as the flimsy, closely-packed structures, and the gay, 
metallic badges of so many well-known home offices which 
appear upon their fronts abundantly testify. Perhaps the 
accusation is not devoid of foundation, if the word of one of 
these gentlemen is to be accepted as a fairly correct ex- 
perience, and as representing some of the objectionable kind 
of business too often transacted. He stated that during the 
three years 1882, 1883, and 1884 the premiums collected in 
Smyrna for insurances of this nature had been about 
£25,000 per annum, while the payments of losses by 
fire in the course of the same period had been £50,000 a 
year. Now, if this large sum came solely out of the pockets 
of a few agents eager for business, or from the coffers only 
of some directors at home, the injury done to commerce and 
to morality would be less, for the game would speedily be 
found not worth the candle. Unfortunately it is the honest 
trader in Great Britain who ultimately pays for this folly — 
the bond-fide insurers, the shareholders, and the proprietors 
of debenture bonds — in higher premiums than might other- 
wise be required, in fluctuating or reduced dividends, and 



224 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR; 



sometimes in the total disappearance of their hardly-earned 
money when lent to a reckless company which suffers 
severely through its Oriental losses. 

On the other hand, and as an excuse for speculative 
transactions such as those indicated, it is alleged that when 
a house in town owned by a native is once insured, the risk 
to that particular property and to the others around it is 
intensified. The neighbours are, in a measure, compelled 
to go and do likewise, as no one can tell, or even con- 
jecture, who among them is honest and who a rascal. The 
demand for insurance springs up immediately ; if one agent 
eschews the risk another will accept it, and thus whole 
blocks of inflammable material, with most picturesque out- 
lines and decked in the liveliest colours, get upon the books 
of the insurance companies, as it were to-day, and are all 
dissipated in smoke to-morrow. It is a common saying that 
in the districts into which the soft-spoken tongue of the 
pushing insurance man has not yet penetrated, fires seldom 
occur, whereas in others better acquainted with the brilliant 
metallic badge, and the imposing policy, conflagrations are 
seldom long absent. Indeed, the remains of houses both in 
town and country are often pointed out which had been 
purchased for a song, flimsily repaired, heavily insured, and 
purposely set fire to the following night. The difficulty of 
proving such a base purpose and detecting its execution is 
so great where, generally, every trace is gone, and the 
proceedings of the courts so tardy and uncertain, that the 
incendiary calculates upon always evading punishment, and 
is correspondingly emboldened by each escape from the 
grasp of the law. Occasionally, however, the educated 
culprit, as sometimes happens at home, less cunning than 
his unlettered associate, omits some little common precau- 
tion, and is pounced upon in the very act of incendiarism. 
Some years ago a native doctor was apprehended one night 
on leaving his premises. Suspicion had previously rested 
upon him on account of his mysterious ways ; he was 
watched by the agent who had insured his house ; he was 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT 



225 



seen on that occasion to leave it surreptitiously ; it was 
immediately entered by the police, and in every room the 
evidences of an arranged conflagration were seen, and part 
of the building was alight. Fortunately the fire was easily 
smothered, but the proofs of guilt were so full and con- 
demnatory that the culprit was quickly convicted, and 
sentenced to ten years' imprisonment. This and some 
similar cases, however, are said to have been exceptional in 
regard to conviction, as the fire-raisers of Smyrna have 
generally laid their plans with the wisdom of the serpent. 
Not a trace of the fired building usually remains to tell a 
tale, far less to convey the slightest hint of how the con- 
flagration occurred. Accordingly, the insurance companies 
interested pay up the loss as smilingly as they can, and, 
in nine cases out of ten, that ends the matter. At the 
present moment the loose commercial morality now being 
exposed seems to improve but slowly, and it is believed that 
the midnight torch does its horrid work almost as frequently 
as of yore. But for the efficient fire-brigade with its power- 
ful engines — maintained solely at the expense of British 
insurance companies — aided by a system of securing most 
of the business premises in Smyrna and many of the private 
dwellings, particularly those belonging to Europeans, by 
means of outside iron shutters and doors (Fig. 42), fires 
occurring at the present time would prove even more 
disastrous than ever, on account of the larger amount of 
property involved. 

Mention having been made of rickety houses purchased 
with the express purpose of being insured and then burnt, 
it may not be out of place to relate a laughable episode 
connected with a rickety boat and marine insurance dispute, 
which happened in Smyrna not long ago. An Ottoman 
subject had received goods from France by one of the 
" Messageries Maritimes " steamers ; the goods were insured 
from the pier at Marseilles to the quay at Smyrna. On 
the vessel's arrival the merchandise was placed by the 
agent of the steamboat company in his own lighter to be 

Q 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



227 



conveyed to the Custom House pier. When crossing the 
harbour the lighter is said to have sunk, not through stress 
of weather, or collision, or by reason of the surge from a 
passing steamer, but on account of the utterly rotten 
condition of the boat. Application was accordingly made 
to the French steamer's agent for the amount of the policy, 
but he coolly stated that his responsibility ceased when 
the goods were discharged over the side of the ship into 
the lighter. An action at law was immediately brought 
by the consignee against the steamboat company in the 
Court of the Mixed Tribunal for the amount. The case 
was stated by the plaintiff in person, while the agent of 
the " Messaereries Maritimes " conducted his own defence. 
In concluding his view, he illustrated the transaction by 
comparing the steamship company he represented to a 
caravan of camels carrying goods from the interior, and 
remarked that the "devigee," or camel-driver, could not be 
held responsible for any mishap on the way, or at the 
termination of the march. 

The plaintiff's attorney, a man of considerable humour, 
said, " the argument used by my distinguished friend shows 
much ability, but he has made one trifling omission. He 
forgot, or considered it unnecessary, or perhaps he thought 
it injudicious to state to the Court that caravans of camels 
in this country are invariably preceded or led by a little, 
long-eared, noisy animal, which guides the larger and more 
uncouth quadrupeds, and so keeps them out of trouble. I 
do not for a moment mean to compare my honourable and 
experienced friend to that small, long-eared, useful creature ; 
yet it seems to me, as I believe it will to the gentlemen of 
this important tribunal of many nationalities, that the 
agent of the e Messageries Maritimes ' stood exactly in 
the shoes of that patient little ass." 

The effect of this simile was electrical, and the roars of 
laughter, which greeted this apt illustration and amusing 
sally, proved as disconcerting to the unfortunate agent as 
it was successful with the Court, who immediately decided 

Q 2 



228 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



against him on the plea that the lighter was unsound 
and unseaworthy. 

As a specimen of the difficulty and loss of time, not to 
speak of the outrageous expense which attends the efforts 
of an insurance company to defeat an unfair claim arising 
out of a fire, the following appeal case, with only a sup- 
pression of names, is condensed from a Constantinople 
newspaper of January, 1885 : — Towards the end of the 
previous year a fire occurred in an ironmongery and furni- 
ture store in Smyrna, by which it was alleged that a 
considerable quantity of goods was destroyed, or had 
disappeared during the excitement. No imputation was 
brought against the character of the tradesman as having 
in any way caused the fire ; the agent of the suffering 
insurance company simply resisted payment of the policy 
for £650, on the ground that the loss, and some of the 
statements of the plaintiff, were exaggerated. The trial 
took place before one of the consular courts, and dragged 
out a weary length of fifteen days, when judgment was 
given against the insurance company, whose agent imme- 
diately carried the matter to a higher tribunal at Constan- 
tinople. There an eminent judge examined the case on 
its merits, exposing the exaggerations of the plaintiff by 
pointing out that the goods enumerated in the inventory 
of loss could not possibly have been packed into the space 
named therein; that three shelves of a store had been, 
with metaphorical daring, expanded into three floors of a 
warehouse ; and that the asserted loss of a multitude of 
iron tools by theft, with an efficient company of soldiers 
and a salvage-guard outside the building, was wholly im- 
probable. He also animadverted upon the manner in which 
the trial had been conducted at Smyrna, administering a 
well-deserved rap over the knuckles to those at fault ; 
winding up by stating that he believed there had been the 
grossest exaggeration, and that, had he been charging a 
jury, he would have said there were evidences of fraud. 
Accordingly, instead of the amount given by the Smyrna 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



229 



Consular Court, he awarded only £250, with the salvage, 
but held the plaintiff liable for the costs of appeal. 

In a word and in conclusion : Were the native commu- 
nities themselves at once the insurers and the insured, the 
strong presumption is that the blazing piles of Smyrna and 
the surrounding villages, so alarming to all honest persons 
living near, would soon become the rare exception rather 
than the rule. So long, however, as scoundrels think that 
any rude collection of inflammable huts, called shops, 
dwellings, stores, or workshops, can be insured in British 
offices at the premium of one and a half per cent., and that 
the amount so arranged for is invariably paid, so long will 
this heartless and criminal incendiarism and exaggeration of 
losses endure, to the deterioration of all who practise it, and 
to the injury of shareholders and others at home. 



230 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR 



CHAPTEK XVII. 

THE SMYKNA AND AIDIN EAILWAY. 

As a rule, the early railway lines of most countries having 
been constructed mainly for ordinary heavy traffic, and, as 
the pioneers of civilisation, could scarcely be expected to 
yield that pleasure and special gratification to the scientific 
wanderer, the artist, or even the tourist that more modern 
railways supply. Accordingly, when an exception is met 
with, it seems a duty, or at least it is but fair, that the 
travelling public should be made acquainted with it, and 
such an exception is undoubtedly presented in the Smyrna 
and Aidin line, extending through part of the most import- 
ant province of Asia Minor, from Smyrna to the village of 
Seraikeuy, a distance of 143 J miles. Besides passing through 
a richly agricultural country, opulent in almost every known 
cereal, vegetable, and fruit, it winds through most pictur- 
esque scenery, it overhangs the wildest precipices, it climbs 
by the steepest gradients through the gloomiest of tunnels, 
and, at length, after a passing glimpse at the site of 
Ephesus, brings the passenger to within a few miles of 
one of the great wonders of the world — the ruins and 
marble terraces of the ancient Hierapolis, and the honey- 
combed volcanic Laodicea. 

During the first twenty miles or so, after leaving Smyrna, 
the well-cultivated ground seen on every side gradually 
rises, until it culminates in a vast tableland, rather swampy 
in places, and consequently somewhat feverish — a fact pro- 
claimed by the occasional yellow faces and lustreless eyes 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



231 



seen at the wayside stations of Djumovassi and Develikeuy. 
Here it may be remarked that the stations on this line 
of railway, as well as on the other stretching over the 
105 miles which intervene between Smyrna and Alascheir 
(the ancient Philadelphia), are wholly open to the loafing 
as well as the travelling public to come and go as they 
please ; and are liberally used as haunts for the thirsty, 
and happy hunting-grounds by the enterprising in small 
wares and fruit, and by the destitute. Little round wooden 
tables are planted in the middle of groups on the platforms, 
upon which such refreshments as may be ordered are placed ; 
and while some are sipping coffee, swallowing mastic- 
flavoured raki, or eating fruit or cakes, others are smoking 
cigarettes or water-pipes; while round them gather the 
would-be sellers of antique gems, bronzes, coins, and pot- 
sherds, and among their feet creep sometimes the most 
repulsive-looking mendicants, holding out little copper 
saucers for alms. 

The first ancient remains which strike the eye on this 
route occur in the Turbali district, which is also the name 
of a station thirty miles from Smyrna. These are the ruins 
of Metropolis, nestling silently some little distance over a 
beautiful, although uncultivated, plain at the base of the 
Gallessium range of mountains. On leaving the station, 
the cold grey walls of the acropolis are distinctly visible 
about three miles off. The first to identify these fragments 
with the classical xiity was the well-known M. Fontrier, of 
Smyrna, who made his discovery during a partridge-shooting 
excursion in the neighbourhood. Through his facility in 
deciphering and collating ancient Greek and other en- 
graved stones, he has had other successes, and is likely to 
be rewarded with more in the future. The name Turbali 
is believed to be simply a Turkish corruption of Metropolis, 
and the ruins in situation correspond to that mentioned by 
the old geographer Strabo, who assigns their position as 
midway between Smyrna and Ephesus. Unfortunately for 
the antiquarian or artist, very little is left of them except a 



232 



PEN AND PENCIL JN ASIA MINOR , 



few uncouth fragments of foundations, some vaults, and a 
shattered theatre, while most of the marble has been re- 
moved. To the still unwearied tourist, who may have seen 
all he cares to examine at Metropolis, additional objects of 
interest await him at the Ionian city of Colophon, situated 
on the further side of the mountains, and distant about 
three and a half hours' ride. The plain of Turbali is of great 




extent, and the swampy part 
of it doubtless corresponds 
to the ancient Pegasaean Lake. 
Indeed, during winter, a large 
area is said to be covered with 
water ; but during the visit of the 
writer, in the month of May, the 
marsh was confined within narrow 
limits, and over the whole, large 
herds of buffaloes and horses were 
grazing. 

Although the eye of the artist will have been gratified 
by the varied form and colour of the landscape and foliage 
hitherto passed through, the first near fragment of the 
picturesque met with is Kelchie Kaleh, or the Goat's 
Castle, not far from Turbali (Fig. 43). This is an ancient 
feudal stronghold crowning a bold rocky summit, and has 



Fig. 43.— Kelchie Kaleh, or Goat's 
Castle, near Turbali, abodt 
thirty miles from smyrna. 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



233 



the legend attached to it, common to some others, of having 
been finally taken by the light of lanterns tied to goats' 
horns, the creatures having been driven up the crags for 
that purpose one dark night. Shortly after passing this 
ruin, the railway crosses the river Cayster, which flows 
downwards to the marsh at Ephesus, in the midst of which 
the Temple of Diana once stood ; and in a few minutes 
more, at a distance of forty-eight miles from Smyrna, the 
station of Ayasouluk is reached about a quarter-past ten 
a.m. (Fig. 44). 

This is but a trifling village, built around the base of a 
hill upon which an old Byzautine castle stands. Some of 
the houses seem new, and look cool and inviting in their 
pretty pale blue and white coats of paint, and contrasting 
artistically with the rich, warm brown of the few immense 
pillars of a former aqueduct which remain, and w T hose only 
duty is now to support each a stork's nest. But let the 
judicious artist or other traveller beware of passing a 
night there ; let no temptation of form, colour, or pictur- 
esqueness — let not even the almost irresistible allure- 
ments of the great Ephesian city on the swampy plain 
a mile below prevail, for as surely as he goes to sleep 
with health and innocence on his brow at Ayasouluk or 
Ephesus, will he awake on the morrow with fever in his 
veins. 

The castle is a large rude edifice, into the walls of which 
some of the spoils of Ephesus have been built, without the 
slightest regard to the value of the sculptures so misused. 
There is a mosque, of course, but any little beauty it 
possesses is imparted by the marbles and granite columns 
stolen from Diana's shrine. In a word, Ayasouluk and its 
buildings are a jumble of barbarisms and splendid remains, 
the sight of which makes one's blood boil with indignation 
to know that such treasures of art should have been filched 
from their original position to furnish this and other wretched 
patchworks with mere building materials, regardless of the 
inscriptions or carvings they bore. From this village no 



234 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



portion of Ephesus is visible, although a glimpse of it is 
obtainable from the castle walls ; accordingly, travellers 
desirous of spending a few hours among the ruins must 
leave the up train on its arrival at Ayasouluk about 10.15, 
and be in time to catch the downward carriages at 1.40 in 
the afternoon. 

The names of Her Majesty's ships " Caledonia," " Terrible," 
" Antelope," and " Swiftsure," to be seen painted roughly 
on the woodwork of the railway-station, are apt to suggest 




Fig. 44. — Ayasouluk (near Ephesus), 48 miles from Smyrna. 



to the mind of the initiated antiquarian what an unexplored 
Golconda of ancient art lies buried, yet within reach, below. 
These vessels were sent by the British Government, in 1873 
and 1877, to assist Mr. Woods, an architect, of Smyrna, in 
his excavations, and to convey to the British Museum any 
sculptures that might be obtained. Usually operations of 
this nature are better and more economically managed by 
private enterprise ; nevertheless, the heavily-taxed Briton 
at home may be pardoned for thinking similar employment 
might with advantage be undertaken again by some of the 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 235 

older specimens of our fleet at present lying useless at 
Portsmouth and other harbours, and by the interesting 
bands of n aval officers one sometimes sees at watering- 
places, rusting for laok of something to do. 




Fig. 45 — Mount Cadmus, 6500 feet. 
(Windings of the river Ma j ander. Miles of barley and poppy fields. Near Nasli, 108 miles 
from Smyrna.) 

To most people the disappointment of having to pass the 
site of this famous city of antiquity so near, without seeing a 
trace of it, is almost too great to be borne ; and yet the feeling- 
is mitigated the next minute by entrance upon a region of 
bloom and floral splendour, where beneficent Nature seems 



236 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



to try by a lavish exhibition of colours, scents, and beauty 
in many forms, to make one forget for a time the scenes of 
spoliation just left behind. This is the commencement of 
the celebrated fig-growing country, which extends to and 
beyond Aidin, a distance of over thirty miles. Another 
notable feature occurs about this point of the line in the 
great increase of the gradient to one in thirty-three, and 
the strange picturesque manner in which, like a gigantic 
snake, it winds upwards among the greenery of the lime- 
stone crags. As might be expected, even with two powerful 
locomotives attached, the train creeps rather slowly up such 
a steep incline, so that in the longer of the two tunnels 
presently passed through, the feeling of asphyxia becomes 
too pronounced to be pleasant. It is on the return journey, 
however, that the steepness of this part of the line is most 
apparent — when the carriage-wheels are each provided with 
an iron shoe, like the skids used for waggons at home, and 
the whole train, once pushed over the edge of the declivity, 
slides to the bottom by its own impetus, a distance of about 
eight miles. 

Out of the tunnels, and beyond the deep cuttings which 
lead to them, the eye immediately roams over miles of fig 
orchards, planted with as much regularity, and kept 
generally as free from weeds as an acre of apple-trees at 
home. Here and there among the more sombre figs are 
pomegranates in magnificent bloom, looking at a little 
distance like immense azelias or camelias scattered over 
forests of dwarf oaks. At and near the next stations, 
Azizieh, fifty- three and a half miles, and Balachik, sixty-one 
and three-quarter miles distant from the starting-point, the 
same horticultural munificence appears, with the addition 
of immense fields of barley among the windings of the river 
Mseander, the quality of which is celebrated in many a 
foreign market (Fig. 45). 

At the latter station the ruins of Magnesia, under the 
shadow of Mount Thorax, attract the eye, and the interest in 
viewing those ancient walls is not diminished when it is 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



237 



recollected that their reflection is received in the lazy 
waters of the classic Lethaeus. All around this district are 
well-cultivated gardens and orchards, interspersed with fields 
of white poppies grown for the preparation of sleepy opium ; 
and the observant traveller, on witnessing these expanses 
covered with this beautiful syren, has no difficulty in under- 
standing why the adjoining river acquired the character of 
the " Stream of Forgetfulness," if the poppy in ancient 
times grew as profusely on its banks, and the attributes 
of its deadly gum were as well-known as now. This an- 
cient city is generally associated with the name of the 
distinguished Athenian general Themistocles, who, when 
banished from Greece by his ungrateful countrymen, spent 
part of his exile there under the protection and kindly treat- 
ment of the Persian monarch Artaxerxes. Ancient writers 
differ as to the mode of his death, which occurred at 
Magnesia 449 years B.C. 

The surrounding country, apart from its attractive floral 
brilliancy, offers another feature of interest to the traveller, 
as having been the site of the great battle fought between 
the Eomans and Syrians 187 years prior to the Christian 
era. In this struggle, historians assure us, the former, 
with less than 30,000 men, defeated 70,000 foot and 12,000 
horse belonging to the latter, with a loss to themselves of 
only 300 infantry and 25 cavalry. 

Aidin, or Guzel-Hissar, the most important station, 
commercially, on the line, is situated on the side of an 
olive-covered hill, and is 80f miles from Smyrna. Its 
situation is very fine, and many a picturesque nook may 
be found by the artist among the winding lanes of the 
two-storey houses inhabited by its 80,000 industrious popu- 
lation. Formerly this was the country terminus of the 
railway, and all journeys beyond had to be undertaken on 
the backs of animals ; but some time ago the line was 
extended to Seraikeuy, about sixty miles farther ; and an 
application has lately been made to the Porte for a firman to 
continue it onwards for a similar distance, in order to tap a 



238 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



flourishing district at present sending most of its products 
to market by sea. The ancient name of this stirring 
commercial focus was Tralles ; but the old town stood upon a 
bold, lofty plateau, considerably higher than modern Aidin. 
Some of the majestic ruins are left, although most of the 
stone of the former palaces has been absorbed for building 
purposes of a more humble and utilitarian nature. It is 
somewhat remarkable that, while many other ancient cities 
of Asia Minor, far more notable in their day, have totally 
disappeared, Aidin should have survived, not as a mere 
wreck, but as the flourishing centre of an extensive trade. 
True, the Gospel reached Tralles at an early period, as we 
know from the extant epistle of Ignatius to the Tralleans, 
dated about the year of our Lord 107 ; but for centuries the 
population has been, and is at present, mostly under the 
cloud of Islamism. 

Aidin is annually becoming more conspicuous as a con- 
venient entrepot both for native and foreign products, 
sending to Smyrna large quantities of figs, cotton, beans, 
sessam seed and oil, barley and other grain, besides liquorice, 
drugs, and opium, and receiving and distributing in ex- 
change the varied manufactures of Europe. The Germans 
are endeavouring to gain a commercial footing in this 
flourishing town ; and they deserve success, as their hawkers 
are to be seen everywhere, while their manufacturers study 
carefully the peculiar wants of the people. At the same 
time a preference seems to be given to British-made articles 
on account of their greater durability, and it is a pity that 
more attention is not paid to this rapidly-growing market, 
distant though it be, by all classes of manufacturers at 
home. 

Although the special fruit districts of the vilayet are 
supposed to be passed when the traveller leaves Aidin 
behind, the character of the soil for fertility and pro- 
ducing the finest figs for exportation seems in no whit 
abated at Omurlu and Kiosk, respectively seven and 
twelve miles further on. Indeed, the whole face of the 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



239 



country here is evidently volcanic and well suited for the 
fig, the olive, and the vine ; accordingly, vast quantities of 
the fruits of these trees, of first-class quality, are annually 
produced. 

About this point the railway crosses the river Maeander, 
and its strange convolutions in the middle distance are seen 
to advantage (Fig. 45). Its curious windings far exceed 
in eccentricity those of the Forth at Stirling, and have long 
ago had the honour of giving a most expressive word to our 
language. This celebrated river is stated by classical writers 
to have taken its rise in a great hunting park belonging to 
Cyrus the younger, near Celsense, a city of Phrygia, where 
the Persian monarch kept a variety of wild beasts for the 
chase. The stream flows through Caria and Ionia, and 
after absorbing the waters of the Marsyas, Lycus, Eudon, 
Letha?us, and some brooks, and forming about six hundred 
convolutions in its course, debouches between Miletus and 
Priene in the ^Egean Sea. 

Of the same character as the country around the last 
two stations is that of the next, Chifte Kiosk, 96 miles 
from Smyrna ; but the products receive the important addi- 
tion of valonia, the acorn-cup of the Quercus ^Jgilops, an 
astringent used in tanning and dyeing. In ancient times 
this town was known, according to Arundell and other 
writers, as Antioch in Caria ; and within sight of it, only 
three miles further on, is Sultan Hissar, formerly known as 
Nissa, the birth-place of the wonderfully accurate classical 
geographer Strabo. Atche and Nazli, although wild and 
rugged as to the cultivated surface, and picturesque as to 
their fantastically split rocks, get the character of yielding 
fruit and opium as copiously as seemingly better situated 
places ; while in the lovely valley of Kuyujak, 116 J miles 
from Smyrna, no one is surprised to see the mighty olive in 
its full splendour of grey foliage waving amidst an ocean of 
yellow barley. 

At Horsunlee, 123^ miles along the line, the fruit region 
appears to be left finally in rear, while barley everywhere 



240 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



reigns as lord of the soil. Magnificent glimpses are also 
obtained of the adjoining mountain scenery, crowned by the 
bare, sharply-defined Cadmus, 6500 feet in height (Fig. 45), 
whose bald summit retains the snows of winter in its wrinkles 
half-way through the month of May. About nine miles 
of a run takes the tourist to the last station on this 
interesting line, where tickets are collected; and on the 
completion of his railway journey from Smyrna, arrives at 
the Turkish village of Seraikeuy, it may be, hot, thirsty, 
dusty, and hungry, yet thoroughly gratified with his beauti- 
ful and picturesque tour. 

It is disappointing to the commercial wanderer, who takes 
an interest in the rapid spread of the use of modern agri- 
cultural machinery, to find so little employed along this 
route. The vast breadths of absolutely flat country are 
admirably adapted for the performances of reaping machines ; 
and yet the only mechanical implements seen were at one 
place where a traction-engine was at work in a farm-yard, 
and one or two reapers drawn by very small horses, ponies 
indeed, were laying low some fields of barley. Prejudice is 
still against them, as a laughable experience related in 
Chapter XXVII., connected with a scene in the neighbour- 
hood of Philadelphia, will show. 

The reader, having thus been introduced to a little fre- 
quented nook of Asia Minor, will naturally inquire what pro- 
spects he has of passing the night comfortably, should he ever 
get there. For the present the answer must be that, while 
there are plenty of Turkish houses, no accommodation in the 
European sense is obtainable. Persons accustomed to roam 
about in remote regions, and to " rough it," will doubt- 
less smile at the idea of the terminus of a great railway, 
comprising a considerable village, offering no quarters to 
the visitor ; yet such is the case. The railway authorities, 
however, have a little private caravansary arranged for the 
use of their own people, when sent for a night or two to 
Seraikeuy; and in this very comfortable house, presided 
over by an active and intelligent Greek landlady, a traveller 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



241 



or two may find rest and entertainment by previously 
applying at the proper quarter, should the rooms happen to 
be vacant. Such was the experience of the writer and three 
companions during the smiling month of May, 1885, but 
how they fared and what they saw will be reserved for the 
next chapter. 



* 



Li 



242 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR; 



CHAPTEK XVIII. 

HIERAPOLIS AND LAODICEA. 

The village of Seraikeuy is distant one hundred and forty- 
three and a half miles from Smyrna, and is in the same 
county or vilayet over which His Excellency Hadji Nachid 
Pasha * lately held sway. It is a picturesque village, and 
ere we had been more than an hour or two in it, proved to 
be quite abreast of the age, as one of the party, requiring 
to send a message to a friend further in the interior, found 
a telegraph office at the official residence of the Mudir or 
chief officer, and so relieved his mind by instantaneously 
flashing his wishes over the line. Health and good looks 
seemed also characteristics of the place, if one might judge 
by the robust forms and attractive faces of the people, and 
the liveliness of the children, united to the favourable report 
of the station-master. The Eev. V. S. Arundell, who visited 
this village in 1826, mentioned in his book (p. 74), de- 
scribing the sites of the seven churches in Asia, that he 
thought " from its situation, almost in a morass, Seraikeuy 
must be, during the autumn, if not at all seasons, extremely 
unhealthy." Matters, however, must have improved, since 
the learned chaplain to the British Embassy of that period at 
Smyrna wrote, as nothing in the least resembling a morass 
could on the present occasion be detected anywhere near. 
The village, indeed, seemed very well drained, and the 
neighbourhood gets the character of possessing an exceed- 
ingly dry climate, the rainfall averaging only twenty-five 
inches per annum. 

Quarters had been obtained, as already indicated, at a 

* Vide footnote, p. 85. 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 243 

house belonging to the railway company ; and the reader 
may feel interested to learn how we were fed for the night, 
seeing that no notice had been sent, and as travellers in 
remote corners of the earth know that it is one thing to 
obtain shelter beneath a comparatively comfortable roof, 
but quite another consideration to get the cravings of 
nature duly satisfied. On this occasion the supper pre- 




Fig. 46.— A TuRKrsH Dragoman and Guard. 



sented by the Greek landlady was appetising, consisting 
of minced lamb stewed with artichokes and flavoured with 
the squeezings of unripe grapes. Lamb chops and green 
pease followed, succeeded by rice boiled in rich sweetened 
cream obtained from goat's milk, the substantial part of the 
repast being crowned with a dish of yaourt, the sour curd of 
the country, eaten with pounded sugar. Ripe and dried 
fruits, indigenous to the soil, brought up the rear, and 

K 2 



244 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



terminated a refreshment which, as regards both quality 
and cheapness, would have reflected credit equally on the 
best hotel, and the humblest restaurant of Europe. 

Our arrangements for the morrow having been completed 
previously to and during supper, and a decision come to of 
visiting the ruins of Hierapolis and Laodicea, we retired to 
bed at an early hour to obtain what sleep or rest we could. 

The house and bed-rooms proving exceptionally clean, 
there occurred no disturbance from the pest of the East, 
nocturnal insects— not the hum of a solitary mosquito even 
fell upon the ear ; but the heat was great, notwithstanding 




Fig. 47.— Our Party riding forth before Dawn. 

the open windows, and the dawn was heralded long ere it 
arrived by the crowing of seemingly myriads of cocks and 
a chorus of apparently countless donkeys — the carriers of 
the village — which rendered sleep after half-past three im- 
possible. Accordingly, we all indulged in early rising ; and, 
after a substantial breakfast, we four companions, preceded 
by an armed mounted guard bristling all over with weapons, 
in appearance somewhat like the sketch (Fig. 46), and 
followed by a similarly accoutred man-of-war in charge 
of our provisions and drinking water, settled in our saddles, 
and before five o'clock were fairly on our way. In this 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



245 



order we left the hospitable caravansary, marching with 
comparatively silent footsteps through the deep floury 
dust of the sleeping village. The heat and closeness of 
the past night had evidently been felt by others besides 
ourselves, as many of the villagers still snored in the 
open air, and from the flat roofs of the mud huts on its 
outskirts the heads of drowsy Turks were occasionally raised 
with a look of pitying inquiry, as the cavalcade, enveloped 
in a cloud, passed away into the hazy distance. For some 
time the route lay due east, but as we got into the intricacies 
of the vast level expanse, of probably fifteen miles in breadth, 
the tortuousness of the path soon defied any attempt at 
keeping an accurate compass-reckoning. With the break 
of dawn, however, the grey terraces of Hierapolis became 
faintly visible at the base of the distant mountains (Fig. 47), 
rendering further study of the compass unnecessary, as the 
ghostly remains continued fully in view until we reached 
them about three hours afterwards. Hitherto the flat mono- 
tony of the plain, seen in the dull light of dawn, afforded little 
food to our interrogating eyes ; but when the sun had fairly 
surmounted the horizon, although the site of the ancient 
city lay in shadow, the rugged pinnacle of Mount Cadmus 
(Fig. 45), opposite gleamed forth wild and majestic, and gave 
a certain sense of imaginary coolness by his weird features 
draped with ribbons of snow. By-and-by the whole range 
blushed under the caress of the herald of day, and the great 
peak, and bare, treeless glens descending from it, seemed 
for the moment instinct with a kind of strange volcanic life. 

During a ride of this kind the equestrian must be pre- 
pared to do rough work should it offer, and to shirk no 
obstacles when they appear. True, on the present excursion 
there proved to be no desperate jumps or very dangerous 
places to scramble over, yet there was all the excitement, 
of small risks in the crossing of frail, loosely-planked 
bridges, fording muddy streams of unknown depth, and 
groping through sullen marshes, full, it might be, of hidden 
treachery. 



246 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



At length, after splashing through our last considerable 
stream, the river Lycus, a tributary of the Mseander, getting 
clear of the great central morass, and passing through some 
miles of ripe barley, we arrived at a number of rude clay 
huts, the owners of which were busy turning over the soil. 
This proved to be a colony of Bulgarians (Fig. 48), who 
had left their native country during the last struggle 
between Eussia and Turkey, preferring the freedom of this 
vast hot plain to the intolerable military slavery of the Czar. 
The men seemed a fine-looking race, and were possessed of 
fire-arms, and strong, useful implements of agriculture. Some 
of them were ploughing, each with six yoke of sturdy oxen 
harnessed to a curious wheel-plough, strongly resembling 
at a little distance a piece of heavy artillery. Doubtless 
they will quickly improve the land upon which they have 
settled, so that the aggressive Russian, without intending 
it, has in this instance done good to Turkey by driving into 
the uncultivated plains of Asia Minor nearly 200,000 of such 
men to reclaim the hitherto useless expanse. 

Meanwhile the vast level had at length been crossed, and 
the path lay upwards over a gentle ascent of smooth, hot 
limestone, with here and there a flimsy covering of stunted, 
dried-up weeds, and the heat, as may be imagined, resembled 
that from the open door of a furnace. The sun's glare and 
fervour, indeed, were rendered endurable only through the 
intervention of our helmets or muslin-covered hats, white 
umbrellas, and having no walking to do. 

Some enthusiastic persons who have visited Hierapolis 
(Fig. 49) have recorded that they were almost struck dumb 
with astonishment at the wondrous sight. They have 
described its splendours, transcending, they say, all the 
other ruins of Asia Minor. The completeness of the build- 
ings, the glitter of the marble palaces, the dazzling purity 
of the magnificent terraces, and their grand cascades of 
petrifying water, have all been limned by travellers in 
the most alluring words and colours. Alas for the frailty 
of the human imagination where the sketch is not made on 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



247 



the spot ! Alas, also, for trie vigour of the earthquakes 
which have so often visited this region, as the sadly-blighted 
reality in no sense answers to the attractive portrayals 
alluded to. The buildings, with a few exceptions, are mere 




Fig. 48. — Bulgarian Fabmee and Boy. 



unsightly fragments or mounds of debris; those that are 
less shattered than the rest have been robbed of every trace 
of their marble coverings ; and the purity of the incrusted 
terraces, excepting the spots where the water is actually 



248 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



flowing over them, is disappointingly dulled by the effects 
of time and weather. Allowing that Hierapolis a few 
centuries ago may have been all that enthusiastic travellers 
have depicted, it has long since been degraded into a common 
quarry for the lime-burner and builder, following the Goth 
who has stolen its sculptures, besides mutilating what he 
failed to carry away ; and the Assuring of the ground by 
earthquakes in recent times has completed the sad scene of 
decay and ruin. There is no doubt still a vast quantity of 
marble lying about, but it is mostly in the form of worthless 
chips — sure traces of the spoiler — fragments of pilasters and 
broken sections of columns, with scarcely any carvings 
except a few maimed and worthless specimens lying on or 
half-buried in the heaps of rubbish with which the whole 
area is strewn. Below the surface, probably, there may be 
numerous treasures of art, and any enterprising syndicate 
purchasing the site from the Porte, with the exclusive power 
to dig and remove — which I understand can be obtained for 
a mere song — would likely reap a speedy harvest of ancient 
art of priceless value, besides other old-world objects of 
worth. 

After three hours' riding our party arrived at the com- 
mencement of the ruins by the western approach, the same 
as that chosen by Arundell in 1826, and opposite to that 
described by Hamilton in 1842. Crossing the dry bed of a 
stream, we mounted a steep hill and gained the filled-up 
channel of a former conduit from the central hot spring. 
This channel being perfectly level and almost as hard as 
marble, afforded a good road for the horses, and brought us 
by a series of windings among rifled tombs and violated 
sarcophagi to the margin of what may be called the solid 
marble lake. Before quite reaching this level, the view 
of the great plateau, seemingly carved out of the side of 
the Messogis mountains, on which the ruins stand, was 
most impressive. The plateau is an immense crescent, the 
horns of which are some miles asunder, having in front 
of it a correspondingly vast projecting terrace entirely 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



249 



crusted over with successive deposits of carbonate and other 
combinations of lime. In former days there had evidently 
been numerous calcareous streams pouring over the cliff', 
which is about 300 feet high, at numerous points, thus 
producing a degree of regularity in the appearance of the 
coating. On the present occasion only four cascades were 
visible, and at these points the terrace certainly maintained 
its ancient claim to be white as the purest marble ; and from 
the subterranean noises heard, it is probable that the volume 
of water discharged by the spring is not materially less than 
formerly, but is only hidden from view. In their state of 
original purity these immense incrustations must have been 
most wonderful objects to contemplate ; but, soiled as they 
are now by weather and time, they rather suggest to the 
practical traveller the idea of the refuse heaps shot over the 
steep bank of a river from an extensive chemical work. 

Fortunately all travellers are not practical, that is to say, 
wholly utilitarian in their ideas. If we may have remarked 
to each other on our way up the side of the terraces, what a 
pity it was that such a magnificent expanse of lime 
carbonate and sulphate, not to mention the millions upon 
millions of tons of phosphates lying there ready for removal 
by any spirited merchant, manufacturer, or agriculturist, 
should not be utilised, that notion speedily gave place to a 
feeling of awe as w 7 e looked down from above, over a 
seemingly once vast boiling Jordan, suddenly petrified and 
fixed for ever, as it were, by the fiat of Omnipotence. 
Curious looking as this singular incrustation is when viewed 
from the plain, its aspect does not captivate the imagination 
in the same degree as when the traveller stands upon its 
upper level and gazes downwards over the undulating slopes. 
These are diversified by immense numbers of little troughs 
or basins, with ledges forming shallow pools about a yard in 
diameter, sometimes hanging with stalactites of the most 
dazzling brilliancy, where the petrifying streams are still 
running. Sometimes these pools are of considerable size, 
and appear as if they had been planned and constructed by 



250 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



human hands for bathing purposes. As to the conduits, 
many of which are now filled up to the brim with solid 
marble, and form admirable level foot-paths, there can be 
no doubt that they were contrived by engineers of the period 
to distribute the hot water from the great central fouutain 
to the various baths, of which an effeminate and voluptuous 
people like the ancient Phrygians were excessively fond. 

Dismounting near the Hot Pool, the source of the 
petrifying water, we visited the various remains on foot. 
The theatre is said to be one of the most perfect in Asia 
Minor, and underneath it Cockerell is represented as having 
discovered the plutonium, or mephitic cavern. In its 
present condition, and without the aid of a dozen stalwart 
labourers with crowbars and tackle, it would be difficult to 
identify anything, as the lower part of the interior is full of 
heavy stones and shattered fragments. In this fine old 
building the hand of the Goth had evidently been at his sorry 
work within the last few days, as the front of the stone 
seats, almost from the bottom to the top, were littered with 
fresh cleavings of white marble, and several blocks lay at 
one side newly dressed and ready for removal. Against 
one of the outer arches lay a portion of a beautifully- 
sculptured white marble frieze with four human figures and 
a leopard, also the well-known " egg-and-dart " ornament 
bordering the upper side. It represented a Bacchanalian 
procession, but was much and recently mutilated, particu- 
larly the faces and hands. How we four travellers would 
have enjoyed catching the Yandals and punching their 
heads, as this was the only carved fragment of pure art we 
could see over the whole vast area. In 1826 Arundell " saw 
several fragments of good sculpture, principally female 
figures, one in a chariot, lying amidst the heaps within the 
proscenium." The heaps of debris are still there, but the 
damsel in the chariot will be sought for in vain. 

From the interior of the theatre, which is some height 
above the level of the marble lakes and hot pool, the view 
is very comprehensive. This ancient building fronts 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



251 



towards the south-west, and overlooks the remains of 
the gymnasium near the upper edge of the terraces. 
The direction of these is from south-east to north-west, 
measuring over a mile, the greater part, especially the 
two ends, being thickly crusted over with calcareous 
deposits. On the upper surface, where not occupied by 
the solid marble lakes, the area, back to the slopes of 
the Messogis mountains, and partly up their lower sides, 
is entirely covered with ruins. Grand piles of massive 
arches and the relics of an extensive colonnade remain ; 
but every feature is in a state of utter decay, which any 
one can see at a glance has not been wholly the work 
of earthquakes. The colonnade must have at one period 
been an object of great magnificence, as the bases of the 
columns can still be examined in their original position, 
extending for fully two hundred yards ; and in the vicinity 
appear the fragments of another extensive building, nearly 
eighty yards in length. Indeed the opinion among the 
well-informed antiquarians of Smyrna seems to be that, 
since classical times, no change in the level of the upper 
terrace, or of the surface of the hot pool, has occurred ; con- 
sequently, the columns in situ and the various fragments of 
walls and arches on the same plain, or higher, still stand 
exactly as they were originally placed. But with the 
buildings reared on a lower level a change has happened 
which conveys to the eye the idea that they have sunk. 
Part of the gymnasium, for example, is obscured and 
hidden by the marble deposit ; and this is accounted for, as 
Hamilton (1842) and other travellers think with good 
reason, by successive overflows of the lime-saturated water, 
no longer kept within prescribed channels, spreading itself 
over and around every object met during its course, and as 
it receded from the hot pool from whence it issued and 
became cooled would surrender its solid constituents. In 
this way part of the foundations and area of the gymnasium 
have been, so to speak, silted up ; and seeing that the hot 
fountain has had many centuries in which to perform the 



252 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR; 



work of incrustation ; that it has already filled up two 
immense hollow meadows to the brim, forming the solid 
marble lakes already mentioned; and has covered more 
than a mile of terraces three hundred feet high, the 
probability is that many magnificent buildings standing on 
the lower slopes may also have been completely smothered. 
The result, doubtless, has also been owing in some degree 
to earthquakes disarranging the system of conduits, or 
perhaps causing fresh openings in the earth, and so giving 
liberty at different periods to overwhelming floods of petri- 
fying water.* This surmise is rendered highly probable 
from the fact that the region is known to have frequently 
suffered from volcanic convulsions, and at the present time 
the surface of the soil in the neighbourhood of the hot pool 
is very much rent and fissured. 

Fortunately for the tired and gasping tourist, who has 
been wandering all over this scene of desolation under a 
scorching sun, the walls of the gymnasium are too high ever 
to be much more encroached upon by the invading water ; 
consequently, he can always calculate on a shaded spot 
whereon to set and open his luncheon basket. Possibly, 
however, he may find society there more numerous than 
select, in the shape of a tribe of Turkoman nomads with 
their flocks and herds, who have likewise come for an hour's 
shelter from the fervent heat. Such people offer for sale 
scraps of worthless potsherds they say they have picked up 
among the debris, and are always ready to help the tourist 
to finish his meal. They are said not to be dangerous, 
although they are armed ; but as they are certainly un- 
savoury, and become picturesque in proportion to the 
distance they are off, the traveller will be well advised to 
give them no encouragement. 

* Since the substance of this chapter appeared in the Glasgow Herald, 
on the 15th of August, 1885, I have been gravely told that the petrifying 
power does not exist in the waters of the hot pool at all, but in an ice-cold 
spring adjoining. 1 did not see this latter phenomenon when on the spot ; 
the guide, indeed, said nothing about it; so, until further proof is forth- 
coming, I prefer to allow the text to remain as it is. 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



253 



Suppose, on the other hand, that solitude reigns, and 
that one's luncheon is eaten uninterrupted by the posterity 
of Ishmael, the first desire experienced afterwards will be 
to plunge into the pool. The water is not too hot for a 
dip, only about 85 degrees or so, and is pellucid and 
inviting. Besides, there are clumps of fragrant oleanders 
and blossoming pomegranate-trees nodding over the surface, 
to undress and dress by, which seem to beckon the swimmer 
into the luxurious bath. I might have been tempted but 
for the recollection of a mishap under slightly similar 
circumstances many years before ; however, our two Turks 
plunged in with bare heads under a cloudless sun, the 
atmospheric temperature being ai about 110 degrees ; and 
enjoyed their hot swim, coming out none the worse. 

It would be simply a monotonous repetition to proceed 
any further in the description of the rest of the ruins, the 
ponderous gymnasium, the temples, minor theatres, music 
halls, and colonnades. To call them splendid or pictur- 
esque, or to use any other laudatory adjective in referring to 
them, would only be to exaggerate, to perpetuate a delusion, 
and be accessory to a snare ; at the same time, the Turkish 
Government cannot be absolved from blame for permitting 
the wholesale thefts and vandalisms, which have so materially 
damaged and degraded those doubtless once magnificent 
but now desolate remains. 

From the large quantity of marble fragments everywhere 
strewn over the surface it seemed evident that this valuable 
and beautiful material had entered liberally, at least into 
the decorative features of Hierapolis. Now, all the splendid 
friezes are gone ; not a carved panel, capital, or base is to 
to be seen ; nothing is left except the mutilated fragment 
already referred to, and a vast desert of marble columns in 
pieces, and a wilderness of chips. 

After luncheon and a long rest we again started on our 
tour, and riding north-north- west over another solid marble 
lake, dismounted and led our horses down the steep face of 
the incrusted terrace, a height of about 300 feet. Reaching 



254 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



the plain we moved as rapidly as the intense heat would 
allow during two and a half hours over a fairly well-culti- 
vated, although uninteresting, country, to the site of the 
Apocalyptic Laodicea. The approach lay around the base 
and partly up a rather steep hill thickly strewn with 
violated sarcophagi, their broken lids, and fragments of 
tablets bearing ancient Greek inscriptions. These ponderous 
coffins and carvings were tumbled about in utter confusion, 
as if hurled from the summit by malevolent giants ; and 




Fig. 49.— Hierapolfs from Ruins of Gymnasium, Laodicea. 



the area of their fall was clothed with a fine crop of ripe 
barley, scattered among which appeared a joyous and 
loquacious band of Turkish reapers cutting it down. 
Occupying, as it once did, seven considerable hills, the 
old city in its prime must have been of great extent, yet 
the remains now visible are utterly disappointing. The 
remnants of the theatres, circus, and aqueduct still cover 
a large space; while the gymnasium (Fig. 49), a small 
building once constructed of massive blocks, occupies the 
summit of the highest hill, but the latter had been shaken 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



255 



and shattered to pieces by earthquakes. Although the site 
and part of the neighbourhood were smiling with ripe grain, 
and many a merry laugh rang through the air, and although 
it afforded a vivid contrast to the petrified desert under the 
Messogis we had recently left, it wore such an unreal, 
weird, volcanic look, that we felt no hesitation or regret in 
turning our backs upon its rent and tottering relics, and 
getting clear of its reported pestilential caverns. We 
knew that one of its significant names, Trimetaria Cuin- 
bustia, had been bestowed on account of its situation at the 
converging points of three provinces, and owing to its 
frequent subjection to the sudden fury of subterranean fires. 

As we rode away we seemed to sniff sulphur in the 
breeze ; we caught ourselves listening at the holes in the 
side of the hill for the growl of the earthquake or the hiss 
of molten lava, and the reflection occurred, how terribly 
this spot had suffered since the days of the strange threat 
— than which nothing could be more expressive of unmiti- 
gated disgust, " I will spue thee out of my mouth." 

At the same time it must be confessed that there is no 
comparison between the two sides of the valley for fertility. 
Whatever may have been the aspect of Hierapolis in the 
days of its grandeur, it has little to recommmend it now ; 
whereas the land around Laodicea is as fruitful as ever, 
although the great city has almost disappeared. The latter 
stands near the river Lycus ; and it received its name from 
Laodice, Queen of Antochus Theos, who rebuilt it out of the 
ruins and on the site of the older town Diospolis. Among 
the ancient inhabitants both the arts and sciences flourished, 
and for many years it was the seat of a celebrated medical 
school. Besides these merits, it had long been celebrated 
for its commercial activity as London is at the present 
time, and, like the British capital, it appears to have 
possessed in the year 361 a kind of Jerusalem Chamber, 
where the canon of the New Testament was finally settled. 
It was great when Augustus Caesar ruled ; Hiero, Zeno, 
Polemo, and successive Roman emperors added to its 



256 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MIX OB ; 



magnificence ; but all proved of no avail to save it from the 
dread fiat. The people, like their church, were "neither 
cold nor hot ; " probably they were a set of worthless 
sensualists. History informs us that their city was ruined 
by successive earthquakes, and passed into the possession 
of the Turks in the year 1097. It was wrested from them 
in 1120, when it was rebuilt and fortified, but only to be 
retaken in 1161. Once more it became free, and Frederick 
Barbarossa, who had been kindly received by the Laodiceans 
in 1190, prayed for its prosperity ; yet the Turks, six years 
thereafter, again became its masters. In 1255 the Sultan 
presented it to the Greeks ; but that nation being unable to 
defend and hold it, Laodicea finally reverted to crescent 
rule, and has remained Turkish ever since. 

On the way down hill the party stopped at a half-buried 
slab of marble, which had been noted when ascending from 
Hierapolis. It seemed to bear an inscription upon its face ; 
so, with some trouble, we cleared away the earth, stones and 
moss sufficiently to obtain a rubbing of the few unmutilated 
words, when it turned out, greatly to our satisfaction, that 
these were ancient Greek of the period when the city was 
in the acme of its splendour, and among them, as perfect as 
the day it was chiselled, was the name Laouthike, the 
ancient spelling of Laodicea. 

The ride back to the village of Seraikeuy lay over a 
fairly good road, but quite uninteresting and deep with 
dust. The afternoon and evening continued excessively 
hot, and as the journey occupied nearly four hours, nine 
o'clock had chimed ere we again reached the shelter of the 
railway caravansary. 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 257 



CHAPTEE XIX. 

THE BOURNABAT SILK HARVEST OP 1885. 

In former chapters the preliminary measures which preceded 
the commencement of the 1885 silk season at Bournabat 
were detailed. The harvest of cocoons having been com- 
pleted, under circumstances of unprecedented success, the 
readers of the earlier essays of this series will probably feel 
interested in learning what led to such a satisfactory result. 
It can scarcely be forgotten that during most of the past 
forty years silkworms all over the world had been the 
victims of a succession of maladies. The effect of those 
diseases was to gradually curtail the annual crop of silk 
available for international commerce, until a point was 
reached when the silk industry of the world was threatened 
with extinction. Previously to the disaster reaching such a 
point of acuteness, Italian savants had endeavoured, by 
researches and suggestions, to save the trade from collapse, 
but with little practical result. Pasteur afterwards, at 
the wish of the late Emperor of France, took the difficult 
matter in hand ; and to the discoveries and recommenda- 
tions of that eminent physiologist and chemist, all seri- 
culturists owe the great change for the better, which has 
lately occurred. 

Among the extensive silk-producing countries of former 
days, which suffered most from silkworm diseases, was Asia 
Minor ; and of the districts of that great and fertile region, 
none had greater cause for complaint than that in which the 
town of Smyrna, with its cluster of pretty villages, is situated. 
About thirty- five years ago a formerly robust trade became 

s 



258 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR; 



enfeebled through the rapid spread of all the known 
maladies. First the silk-farmers, then the peasantry, lost 
heart on finding that year after year their increasing " edu- 
cations" produced less and less silk. They ceased to 
purchase eggs from the dealers, who had so often deceived 
them ; the annual crop of cocoons in consequence dwindled 
to zero ; the silk-mills of Smyrna had to be closed for lack 
of the raw material ; the artisans formerly engaged there 
betook themselves to other employments; the peasantry 
mourned, but could not resuscitate, a most remunerative 
source of income hitherto reaching them at a period of the 
year when other work was scarce ; an important and easily- 
collected item of revenue failed the authorities; and on 
Turkish bondholders in Great Britain and elsewhere the 
brant of the misfortune ultimately fell. 

Mr. Griffitt, of Bournabat, for thirty -three years the Vice- 
Consul for the United States at Smyrna, although an 
English gentleman and a British subject, had long been an 
experimental sericulturist, and saw at a glance the exceed- 
ing value of Pasteur's discoveries. He studied his writings, 
followed up his researches, and, being himself a skilled silk- 
farmer, invented methods of his own which, during the past 
few years, have led to, and culminated in, this season's 
unexampled prosperity. 

The distribution of the previous year's eggs, by Mr. Griffitt, 
in the Bournabat and other districts, took place during the 
spring of 1885, from the middle to the end of March, as 
depicted in a former chapter ; and in most cases incubation 
occurred in the early weeks of April. The terms upon which 
the graine was supplied varied according to the situation of 
the town or village of the proposing educators, and had some 
reference to whatever customs prevailed in former days, 
before the blight had fallen. Those living near Mr. GrifTitt's 
residence, on account of causing no outlay and requiring 
no separate agency, were most favourably dealt with; while 
those residing some miles off, or in some distant town or 
village, were required to contribute at the end of the season a 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



259 



larger percentage of their crop ; but the eggs in every 
instance were given free of expense, the educators supply- 
ing all food and labour. The arrangement was, in short, a 
partnership one, managed in each outside village by means 
of an agent, experience having taught that this plan is 
open, in honest hands, to fewest objections. 

To the process of sericulture, as comprised within the 
bounds of a single incubation of eggs, the technical name of 
an " education " is given. The average period over which a 
first education for graine extends in Asia Minor, using little 
artificial heat, is sixty-two days, as follows : — 

Time consumed during incubation, feeding, moulting, and 



beginning to spin . . . . . - . .40 days 

Time occupied in weaving the cocoon . . . . 3 „ 

Time allowed for laggards, an additional . . . 2 „ 

Time required for transformations in the cocoon . . 15 „ 

Time usually spent in pairing and depositing eggs . . 2 „ 



Total . 62 days. 



When the education is for silk alone, its duration may 
be lessened by employing a greater degree of heat than 
is desirable in the production of eggs ; a second hatching 
during the season is shorter for the same reason, but it is 
never so satisfactory as the first ; and the prolonged leaf- 
plucking which a double harvest involves is injurious to 
the mulberry tree. 

Not one of the least curious features connected with Mr. 
Griffitt's silk harvest during the season under review was 
his breeds of silkworms, each of which furnishes a physio- 
logical study in miniature. His beautiful white Bagdad 
worms, the largest hitherto produced in Asia, were obtained 
some years ago from the banks of the Euphrates, near the 
ancient city whose name they bear. When this fine breed 
was first received, it was found to be full of the corpuscular 
malady, and all idea of raising stock from it was abandoned. 
Subsequently the verdict was reversed, and a trial deter- 
mined upon after Pasteur's cellular method. About half an 
ounce of eggs was treated on this costly, yet efficient plan, 

s 2 



260 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR; 



with a yield of seven thousand moths of both sexes ; but of 
this number only two hundred were afterwards passed by the 
microscope as comparatively free from the disease. The 
progeny of these were again reared cellularly, resulting in 
the small number of only forty-two moths (Fig. 52) found 
absolutely healthy in every way. From this tiny but 
vigorous colony sprang the existing ample and comely race 
which, with further careful selection of only the finest for 
reproduction, bids fair to supersede all others where silk of 
the greatest length and strength is required. Already the 
regeneration of the white Bagdad breed has excited the 
liveliest hopes among the fishermen of the Gulf of Smyrna 
and the Greek Archipelago, who formerly used its silk. 
These hardy " toilers of the sea " grudge no reason- 
able outlay upon their nets ; they expect that the price 
of this silk will again enable them to use it; and in 
anticipation are invoking blessings upon the head of their 
benefactor. 

The story of Mr. GrifHtt's yellow race (Fig. 52) is hardly 
inferior in interest to that of the white Bagdads. About 
eight years ago, this gentleman received a small sample of 
indigenous yellow grain from an eminent and well-known 
sericulturist, M. Kolande, of Switzerland, for experimental 
purposes. The worms did fairly well the first year ; the 
second season ended in disappointment ; while the third 
proved an utter failure. Willing in this case, as in the 
other, to try the best-known remedial means, Mr. Griffitt put 
a few of the remaining eggs of the third year through a 
cellular education, which likewise proved a success. A 
numerous renovated race quickly appeared, and from 
them the fine breed of the past few years descended, and 
is now remuneratively reared in various parts of Asia 
Minor. 

It would have been difficult for any scientific and 
enthusiastic sericulturist to examine for any length of time 
the magnificent cocoons produced • by those two handsome 
members of the bombyx mori family, without believing that a 



OB, NOTES FBOM THE LEVANT. 



261 



hybrid between them would display points of additional 
merit. The experiment has been tried ; the silk produced 
proved of the finest quality ; and an important gain has 
resulted in the augmented weight of the cross worm, the 
average of which is 3*91 grammes, as compared with 3*77 
grammes, the average weight of its yellow mother. 

In almost every hatching of hybrid eggs a freak of nature 




Fig. 50.— Greek Brazier for heating Rooms with glowing Charcoal. 

appears in the shape of a few dark brown worms, locally 
known as " arapenes " (negroes) or " kalogrees " (nuns). 
They are exceedingly vigorous, and their average weight, 
4 ■ 1 grammes, is considered high, accounted for by the long 
duration and voracity of their feeding. That they would 
form a profitable race to any farmer, reared in large numbers, 
will be seen when it is mentioned that the produce of eighty- 
two worms, picked out of an education of sixty thousand 



262 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 

mixed breeds, was only one imperfect cocoon, three double 
cocoons, and seventy-six nearly equally divided between 




perfect male and female cocoons, their weight being 2*2 
grammes for the males and 2*7 grammes for the females. 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



263 



Brought together into a focus for the sake of comparison, the 
average weights of those worms, taken immediately before 
they mounted the brushwood to spin their cocoons, were — 

The Bagdad white renovated race . . 5*66 grammes. 
The indigenous Swiss yellow race . . 3*77 „ 

The white hybrid 3*91 „ 

The brown freaks of nature . . .4*1 „ 

At the beginning of April a small hatching of one and a 
half ounces, or sixty thousand eggs, of the three first- 
mentioned races was set to incubate in two upper rooms of 
Mr. Griffiths house, the special object being the securing of 
a quantity of healthy graine for the operations of 1886. 
With this end in view, the temperature was purposely kept 
moderate all through the education. Artificial heat, applied 
by means of pans of glowing charcoal (Fig. 50), was em- 
ployed for a few days during the period before and after 
hatching, raising the temperature from 56 degrees Fahr. to, 
and keeping it at, 62 degrees. 

In a short time this arrangement was rendered un- 
necessary, as the temperature required was obtained 
naturally by the increasing power of the sun ; but the 
greatest height of the thermometer in the rooms at any 
period of the education rarely exceeded 80 degrees. In 
the course of eight or ten days all the eggs hatched, some 
yielding their worms before the eighth day, and the space 
occupied by the sixty thousand newly-born creatures was 
two square feet. During the early stages, beyond the 
careful selection of the leaves and shredding them (Fig. 51) 
finely before feeding, the time consumed in attending to the 
various requirements of the worms was comparatively small. 
But as they grew in size and voracity, the almost continuous 
labour during daylight of four persons was needed ; while, 
towards the termination of the education, a man and 
donkey were employed morning and evening for several 
days, keeping up the failing local supply of mulberry leaves 
by loads brought from a distance. 

Meanwhile the small farmers and peasantry of Bournabat 



264 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



and in the surrounding villages of Mersanliqui, Narliqui, 
Koukloudjah, Diana's Bath, and more distant hamlets and 
towns, had also been progressing with their respective 
educations ; and received occasional visits from Mr. Griffitt, 
or some of his servants, with the double purpose of giving 
the educators advice, and noting any appearance or symp- 
toms of disease. In no instance could any trace of the 
malady be detected, and in every case where Mr. Griffitt's 
suggestions as to ventilation, space, and perfect cleanliness 
were strictly attended to, the worms bore a robust look, 
which augured well for the approaching harvest. As 
having an important bearing on the last remark, it may be 
mentioned that the rooms devoted to the incubation of the 
one and a half ounces of graine, already alluded to, measured : 
one, twenty-three feet by seventeen feet, provided with 
five windows and four doors, the stands inside affording 
504 square feet of feeding space for the worms ; and the 
other, eighteen feet by eighteen feet, with two windows, 
two doors, and possessing 432 square feet of feeding area. 
Altogether, the calico-covered surface occupied, when the 
education was finished and the worms were about to mount, 
was 936 square feet, in rooms the ceilings of which were 
twelve feet from the floors, each provided during the whole 
period with frequently changed basins of disinfecting fluid 
at the corners. When it is remembered that the space 
originally occupied by the newly-hatched worms was only 
two square feet forty days previously, it will be seen what 
stress is laid by a scientific educator upon giving his silk- 
worms an abundance of accommodation, and it will be 
understood how the observance of this point, in addition 
to ample ventilation and strict cleanliness, is insisted upon 
by Mr. Griffitt from all to whom he entrusts his graine. 

The revival of such an industry as sericulture, after so 
long a period of decay and almost death, has been attended 
with many difficulties, each peculiar to some particular 
year. The special perplexity of the past season had been 
the scarcity of mulberry leaves, as this was the first occasion 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



265 



for more than thirty years that an overwhelming demand 
for food has occurred. An advance in the price of leaves 
was the result, which slightly curtailed the profits of the 
educators ; but as more trees will hereafter be available for 
feeding purposes, this drawback may be expected annually to 
diminish. On the other hand, the abolition of disease, when 
the fact becomes known, will certainly increase the number 
of educators in future. It might therefore be judicious 
on the part of the Turkish authorities to make timely 
provision by planting a few millions of mulberry trees in 
the various silk districts, and making free gifts of seedlings 
to all who offer to put them in the ground themselves. 

It rarely, if ever, happens that a family of silkworms 
commence and terminate their long feast exactly together. 
There are always a few sturdy pioneers that keep ahead 
all through the education, as there are invariably some 
laggards which saunter lazily behind the rest. When the 
pioneers show by certain well-understood signs that it is 
their pleasure to commence the spinning of their cocoons, 
the watchful sericulturist arranges his previously obtained 
and prepared supply of pine or other branches in such a 
manner that the worms may obtain easy access to them. 
Nestling, as Bournabat does, at the base of a range of 
scrub-covered hills, it is well situated for quickly obtaining 
such supplies. Accordingly, it was one of the picturesque, 
if not one of the most melodious experiences of the season 
when, morning after morning, all the asses of the village 
returned about dawn loaded with brushwood for the edu- 
cators; the distant and gradually approaching chorus of 
braying, announcing unmistakably the arrival of the Jeru- 
salem steeds, and putting further sleep out of the question. 
Quickly the loads of brushes were seized, torn asunder, 
dressed and placed in the frames ready for the expectant 
worms. Mounting quickly follows, and is nearly always 
performed in the morning. As soon as the worm has found 
a suitable spot, it begins immediately to evacuate its 
silk, to weave its cocoon, and before the day is over the 



266 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



industrious little spinner is hidden from view in its silken 
cell. Making due allowance for pioneers and laggards, it 
may be said generally that, counting from the date of 
setting to hatch, the bulk of the cocoons of a first educa- 
tion ought to be completed on the forty-fifth day, after 
which those intended for immediate reeling are removed 
and unwound, experience having taught that the silk 
obtained from live cocoons is better in quality and greater 
in quantity than that yielded after the chrysalides have 




Fig. 52.— Bagdad Race. Indigenous Yellow Race. 
(Slightly reduced from the natural size.) 



been killed. A day or two having elapsed, the remainder of 
the crop is removed from the brushes, cleared from floss and 
twigs, examined and assorted, the finest specimens only being 
strung (Fig. 29) in series of one hundred cocoons for repro- 
duction ; while the balance is steamed for a quarter of an 
hour in a suitable apparatus to destroy all life, dried, and 
stored away in airy places free from vermin, until required 
for reeling or exportation. 

Fifteen days usually intervene between the completion of 
the cocoons and the issue of the perfect moths selected 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



267 



for the perpetuation of their species. This is a period of 
considerable anxiety to the scientific sericulturist, as, 
although his crop of silk for the season is now assured, he 
remains still in ignorance regarding the presence or absence 
of disease in the female moths undergoing development. On 
these depends his supply of graine for the following year. 
Accordingly, he eagerly looks day by day for some sign 
or symptom on which to build his hopes. During this 
epoch of apprehension the services of the sturdy pioneer 
worms already mentioned come into play, and they perform 
an important function, which either calms his solicitude or 
puts him out of prolonged misery by confirming his worst 
tears. The pioneer worms, keeping up their character of 
marching in the van, have now become pioneer moths, the 
heralds of the army ; these issue from their cocoons some 
days in advance of the others, perform their appointed 
duties, and resign their bodies to microscopic examination. 
Thus the sericulturist on Pasteur's system is enabled to 
form an early opinion regarding the absence or presence of 
disease and its extent, and to act at once upon the hints so 
obtained. 

The reader will scarcely feel surprised now to learn 
that the silk season of 1885 at Bournabat, and wherever 
Mr. Griffitt's graine was distributed last spring, was of the 
most satisfactory character. That gentleman's privately- 
conducted education of one and a half ounces yielded 
60,000 worms, all of which arrived at maturity without exhi- 
biting a trace of disease, and spun the extraordinary weight 
of 93 okes of cocoons, or 255 lb., equal to the unprecedented 
return of 170 lb. per ounce of eggs set to hatch. The 
average crop of the adjoining farmers and peasants, 
although not so great, having been 42 okes, or 115 lb., is 
still far ahead of recent returns from Europe. These 
figures, according to M. Maillot, Director of Sericulture at 
Montpellier for the French Government, are — from Italy 
23 kilogrammes (62 lb.), and from France 28 kilogrammes 
(77 lb.) per ounce of eggs. If such returns are considered 



268 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



good for the two great silk-farming countries of Europe, 
in what category are the magnificent crops of Mr. Griffitt 
and his friends to be placed ? 

It only remains to be added that this season Mr. Grriffitt 
had improved upon his former practice, by adding the 
stimulus of promised rewards to the most successful peasant 
educator in each town or village raising his graine. He 
thus anticipated a function which the authorities themselves 
might gracefully have undertaken. Under the circum- 
stances it is evident that the educators of Asia Minor, as 
well as the Turkish G-overnment, rest under the weight of 
a heavy obligation to this gentleman, which will not be 
easily discharged ; the first are his debtors, on account of 
his having revived a remunerative industry, and the second 
for the reanimation of a defunct source of revenue. 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



269 



CHAPTER XX. 

SMYRNA TO CONSTANTINOPLE. 

The opportunities of getting from Smyrna to the Black 
Sea are numerous,, and the trip is so interesting that no 
traveller who can spare the time should allow a chance of 
going, to slip past unimproved. Say that it is the month 
of May, and that the heat and mosquitoes of Smyrna have 
become too trying for the further endurance of the wandering 
European unfettered by special business there, let him 
secure a passage in a Cunard or other well-found steamer, 
and arrange to remain on board during the vessel's stay at 
Constantinople. By doing so he will participate in a 
number of advantages, among which immunity from the 
solicitations of the Stamboul mendicants is not to be lightly 
passed over, and he need be subjected to no inconvenience, 
except that of landing every morning to see the sights, at 
the cost of one piastre, or about two pence, to the boatman. 
Suppose, therefore, that the trip has been decided on, and 
that the tourist and his belongings are comfortably be- 
stowed in a deck cabin, a few remarks regarding what he 
may expect to see, and the experiences he will probably 
meet, from one who has passed through the pleasant ordeal, 
and thoroughly enjoyed it, may prove welcome to some 
whose thoughts of a summer holiday next year tend in that 
direction. 

It is evening when the voyage begins, and at 7.30 the 
screw commences to twirl. In less than half-an-hour the 
Acropolis and Mount Pagus will have melted into the 
general contour of the hills, and the old fortress, which 



270 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR; 



guards the Bay of Smyrna, has been left in rear. Looking 
backwards, the town, lighted up, as it probably will be for 
the evening, presents a pretty aspect ; and as the passengers 
will likely be in a genial mood after dinner, and ready to 
exchange views with one another without introductions and 
without taking offence, traits of character both amusing 
and instructive may be noted on such occasions. Take, 
for example, the astronomically-inclined young lady who 
presently appears on deck, armed with a mighty volume full 
of constellations, and on being politely asked by the captain, 
or one of the officers, which star has gone amissing, says — 
" The Great Bear ; I fear he is not out to-night." 

" Oh yes, there he is," promptly replies the naval man, with 
a malicious twinkle of the eye, which is hardly quite honest. 

" Where ? " derisively queries the enthusiastic little 
inspector of the heavens. 

" Why, over there, just between the horizon and the 
equator," coolly adds the mendacious sailor. 

A silverly laugh and a hearty chuckle close the investi- 
gation for the time ; the maiden turns over another leaf ; 
the captain returns to the bridge; and the good steamer 
plunges into the gathering gloom of night. 

It is a waste of energy in the passenger who attempts to 
sit up late when at sea, and reading is equally a prodigal 
expenditure of his eyesight, as the subdued light of most 
saloons, when not electrically lit, is scarcely conducive to the 
comfortable perusal of either fact or fiction. Infinitely 
better will he find the habit to be of retiring about 10 . 30, 
to reappear on deck clear-eyed and refreshed soon after 
dawn, when the fine island of Mitylene is in view. To the 
artist, or even the amateur dauber, the magnificent effects 
accompanying sunrise over this charming island will prove 
specially welcome. Words are wholly inadequate to convey 
an idea of the splendour of the sky colours as contrasted with 
the rich deep indigo of the Mediterranean, and the dim 
outlines of the picturesque isle between. Seen under such 
circumstances, and by the improving light, Mitylene offers 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



271 



the singular contrast of a shore-line, smooth yet barren- 
looking, green with verdure yet suggestive of a desert. 
But this is only a trick of vision, for it is at once a beautiful 
and fruitful island, yet, unfortunately, not inhabited by 
the most honest race of the Levant. While the traveller 
is consulting his * Murray ' for information about his sur- 
roundings, or bothering the officer on duty for the name of 
a rugged peak, the Sigiri Lighthouse, on the westernmost 
point of the island, is passed, followed a little later by Cape 
Baba on the Troad; and should the weather prove clear 
and moderately calm, the course will be inside the rocky 
island of Tenedos over Beshika Bay, used on a memorable 




Fig. 53.— Entrance to Dardanelles. 



occasion within late years as a temporary refuge for the 
British fleet. Now, if ever, should the charms of Mitylene 
not have already coaxed the tourist's sketch-book from his 
pocket, is the time for the art-student to begin his record. 
He is passing the plains of Troy, with a background of 
richest verdure in forests of valonia oak, and with the grand 
opening of the Dardanelles (Fig. 53) full in front. Hardly 
is breakfast over than the magnificent portal, more than 
three miles wide, defended on the European side by the 
fort of Seddah Bahr, and on that of Asia by the castle of 
Koum Kaleh, is entered by the steamer, whose screw 
forthwith ceases to churn the waters of the Mediterranean. 
Much has been vaguely written regarding the difficulties 



272 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



a hostile fleet would require to eucouuter in attempting 
to force a passage through the Dardanelles to the Sea of 
Marmora, a distance of thirty-five miles. From the nature 
of the case perfectly reliable figures can scarcely be expected ; 
nevertheless, the following statement of the defences of this 
narrow strait, compiled from the ' Sailing Directions for the 
British Navy,' revised to 1882, will help to show that 
running the gauntlet would be attended with at least some 
risk : — 



Forts and Guns on the 
European Side. 

Guns. 

Seddah Bahr fort .... 25 
Shahim Kaleh-si fort . . . 15 
Kilid Bahr (two forts). . . 54 
Namaziel, Demahurnu and ) ^ 

Cham Kaleh-si (three forts) \ 
Kimleh and Bokah Kaleh) ^ 

(two forts) J 

Guns mounted on European 
side 169 



Forts and Guns on the 
Asiatic Side. 

Guns. 

Koum Kaleh-si fort ... 25 

Kephez fort 18 

Chanak Kaleh-si (three forts) . 182 
Medjidieh and Besah Kaleh) 9C 
(two forts) . . . . f - 
Nagaza Point (two forts) . . 64 

Guns mounted on Asiatic 
side 318 



Thus it may be said that five years ago the channel of the 
Dardanelles was guarded by 487 pieces of artillery. On 
the other hand, it is asserted, that, although a few of these 
guns are of large dimensions and modern manufacture, 
many are of an obsolete pattern, and were designed to throw 
bullets of marble or granite, which missiles would simply 
impinge harmlessly against the sides of an armour-clad 
ship, like pease against a drum, making a deal of noise, 
but inflicting no injury. Nevertheless, after making every 
allowance for inaccuracies of description, and keeping out 
of the calculation the uncertain element of torpedoes, it 
may not be rash to say that a determined enemy, having a 
large number of heavily-armed ships of modern build, and 
prepared to submit to the sacrifice of one or two in passing, 
might, in the course of a few days, silence and dismantle 
every fort along both sides of the Dardanelles, and be in 
possession of Constantinople within a week of the assault. 
About one-third of the way through, ships are required 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



273 



to stop at Chanak, where the strait is narrowest, being 
only a quarter of a mile in width, to exhibit their papers, 
and, if necessary, to undergo an inspection by the officers 
of health. This point is defended by three considerable 
forts, mounting collectively 182 guns. These defences are 
called the Castles of the Dardanelles, and are distinguished 
by the names Chanak-Kalesi, or the Earthenware Castle, 
from a celebrated pottery on the Asiatic side ; and Kilid- 
bahr, a double fortress, mounting fifty-four pieces of ordnance, 
on the European shore. In these forts some enormous brass 
guns are still to be seen, along with their marble and granite 
bullets; but these have been to some extent superseded 
by Krupp artillery. 

An agent from the pottery is always on the outlook for 
the wandering European, and he hooks on to every passing- 
ship. His boat-load of gaudy crockery is generally more 
remarkable for gilding and colour than for taste ; never- 
theless, the shapes are in some instances elegant, even 
classical ; and specimens of tall water-jugs he sells are said 
always to command purchasers. 

Keleased by the authorities, the steamer quickly reaches 
a broader part of the Hellespont, where the hill scenery 
on both sides is rather attractive. Again, the strait con- 
tracts at Nagara Point to about one-third of a mile ; and 
at a rocky ledge on the European shore, the spot is 
indicated where the one side of the bridge of boats, once 
thrown across the Dardanelles by the Persian monarch 
Xerxes, was secured. At this place is believed to have 
been what was anciently called the Strait of Abydos, where 
the army under Alexander, commanded by Parmenio, 
crossed from Europe to Asia ; where, in 1369, the Turks of 
Suleiman first entered Europe ; and where Leander, Lord 
Byron, and some Englishmen in more modern times, swam 
from the one continent to the other. The remainder of the 
strait widens out to between three and five miles, so that 
the specialities of the shore-lines cease to be so well-marked 
as where it is narrower ; but here, as everywhere else in 



274 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



this beautiful and interesting region, the feature of the 
Dardanelles is the prevalence of cultivation rather than 
marked picturesqueness of scenery. The strata appears to 
consist entirely of limestone, not dislocated like similar 
rocks in other parts of the world, but lying horizontally as 
if all upheaved on a level, or left, as originally deposited, by 
the subsidence of the sea. 

Beyond the termination of the Dardanelles on the 
European side, and at the commencement of the Sea of 
Marmora, stands the old town of Gallipoli (Fig. 54), 
owning at present a population of 20,000 persons ; it has 
been Turkish since 1257. Apart from its value as a place 
of trade, this important town will always take a separate 




Fig. 54.— Town of Gallipoli, Sea of Marmora. 



rank as the key to Constantinople, the Bosphorus, and the 
Black Sea. This circumstance was seen by the allied forces, 
in 1854, opposed to the encroachments of Russia, and 
Gallipoli was accordingly occupied by the British and 
French at the beginning of the Crimean war. At that time 
the military lines at Bulair were also formed across the 
narrow neck of land leading to the Thracian Chersonesus. 

The Sea of Marmora is about 110 miles long from east 
to west, without reckoning its two deep gulfs, by forty 
miles broad at its widest part, and is a grand sheet of water, 
but not picturesque. Along the European side, traversed 
by the steamer, it seems fairly well cultivated, olive 
plantations preponderating. Yet over this great stretch of 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



275 



water the only place usually touched at is Rodosto, a dirty, 
ill-built town of 30,000 inhabitants, about half-way between 
Gallipoli and Constantinople. Opposite this town, a few 
miles off, the bottom of the sea sinks into a profound abyss 
of 2760 feet, which is the deepest part of Marmora (Figs. 
55 and 56). 

Although this inland sea and its shores can scarcely be 
called attractive to the eye of an artist, it would be untrue 
to say the same of its islands. These afford views both 
beautiful and picturesque, especially the group of the 
Prinkipos (Fig. 56), nine in number, which lie parallel with 




Fig. 55. — Islands of Marmora and Araplar, as seen from the European Side. 



the coast-line about six miles south-east of Constantinople. 
But long ere the voyager has reached this point, darkness 
will have supervened ; and as he will have to rise on the 
morrow before the lark, if he hopes to see the splendours of 
Constantinople under the matchless tintings of the dawn, he 
will now be persuaded to retire to his cabin without delay. 

There is probably no spot on earth the approach to which 
is more resplendent with real beauty, or witching with added 
attractiveness, than the magnificent panorama, whose focus 
is, the City of the Sultan. On the right hand extend the 
Islands of the Princes just alluded to, named Proti, 

t 2 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOB ; 



OB, NOTES FROM TEE LEVANT. 277 



278 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR; 

Aritigone, Halki, and Prinkipo ; while on the left the old 
seraglio (Fig. 61), the mosques, minarets and tall houses of 




the suburbs of Stamboul appear to rise rapidly from the 
glittering wavelets. 

Quickly, as if by enchantment, mosque, minaret, and spire 
seem to pile themselves upon one another in picturesque 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



279 



confusion, until the eye is finally arrested and enchained by 
the grand culminating fane of St. Sophia (Fig. 60). A little 
more in front the morning mist yields up the twin towns of 
Galata and Topkhane, dominated by a vast signal tower 
(Fig. 57) of Genoese origin, the whole being crowned by 
the splendid European town of Pera (Fig. 57). 

Towards the right centre the matchless Bosphorus 
(Fig. 61), covered with caiques and tiny steamers, fades away 
into the blue distance ; while the Asiatic shore seems hidden 
with the mansions and gardens of Skutari, Kadikeui, and 
the ruins of Chalcedon (Fig. 58). While all this scene of 
loveliness and wealth is under contemplation, and the eyes 
of the visitor are still rambling over the seductive picture, 
the steamer has rounded Seraglio Point, the three hundred 
miles of a voyage between Smyrna and Constantinople have 
been completed, and the vessel is presently moored fore and 
aft to two large iron buoys at the mouth of the Golden Horn 
(Figs. 57 and 58), near the Bridge of Boats, and within two 
hundred yards of the Stamboul shore. It would be idle at 
the end of this essay to attempt any word-sketch of the 
capital of Turkey, where many square miles of hill and dale 
are covered with buildings, and where nearly two millions 
of human beings are loosely congregated together. There 
is sufficient material to fill a volume, so the subject may 
perhaps be allowed to simmer into the next chapter. 



280 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



CHAPTEK XXI. 

CONSTANTINOPLE. 

Probably no team of travellers casually thrown together, 
through being in the same steamer, is ever likely to agree 
exactly regarding what they ought to do and see first on 
arrival in the Golden Horn. One is a staunch believer in 
his ' Murray ' ; another, in his ' Bradshaw ' ; a third main- 
tains that ' Badeker ' is the friend in need, not the other 
two ; while the most confiding spirit of the party pins his 
faith to a programme drawn out for him by some ancient 
warrior relative, whose experience of Turkey ceased with 
the termination of the Crimean war. There is really so 
much to look at, and make notes of, during a limited space 
of time, that the ordinary tourist, with only a week or a fort- 
night to spare, is certain to omit something worth in vestiga- 
tion, and only to discover his loss when it is too late to 
repair the oversight. Under these circumstances it is 
desirable for his own comfort that the holiday-maker should 
have already arranged in his own mind, through reading 
and inquiry, what sights are likely to prove most interest- 
ing to him ; then, on his arrival, let him engage a well- 
recommended guide (Fig. 59), at about five shillings a day, 
to conduct him about, and help him with his purchases ; and, 
above all, let the traveller lay down before starting the main 
features of each day's round, and rigidly cling to the outline. 

This advice will not be deemed superfluous when it is 
added that the following are the places and objects of special 
interest in and around Constantinople, which every stranger 
is recommended to visit : — The capital, consisting of Stam- 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



281 



boul, Topkhane, Galata, and Pera (Figs. 57, 58, 60, 61), 
on both sides of the Golden Horn ; Eyob, a pretty village 



P 1 




Fig. 59. — Type op the Constantinople Jewish Guide. 

containing a marble mosque, inaccessible to Christians, a 
few miles up the Sweet Waters of Europe ; Skutari and 



282 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



Kadikeui (Fig. 61), on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus ; 
the Thracian Bosphorus, and its magnificent marble palaces 
and country villas (Fig. 65) ; the fane of St. Sophia and 
more than one hundred splendid mosques ; the Hippodrome 
and its obelisks (Fig. 60) ; the great rock-hewn cistern of 
Philoxenus ; the Castle of Seven Towers ; aqueducts of the 
Emperor Valens ; and the fountains, museums, public offices, 
covered bazaars, arsenals, and bridges. 

The steamer which has brought the traveller to Constan- 
tinople, should he not have arrived by rail, is duly moored 
near the Stamboul side of the Golden Horn, in more than 
one hundred feet of water. Looking up from this point as 
soon as the fastening is complete, the eye rests upon but one 
grand object breaking up the sky-line — the great mosque 
of St. Sophia (Fig. 60). It is the culminating point, as seen 
from far or near, and the massiveness of the pile and slim 
beauty of its four tall minarets are almost certain to draw 
the visitor with art tendencies first in that direction. Pre- 
suming that a guide has been engaged, this ancient Greek 
church, now used as a mosque, can be reached in about 
twenty minutes' walking from the landing-place near the 
Custom House. At one time admission into any Turkish 
place of worship for a Christian was a matter of difficulty, and 
even of personal risk after the difficulty had been overcome. 
This is now changed for the better, and there are only two 
essential performances to be gone through — he must pay 
down ten piastres (about 2s. Id.), and he must either pull off 
his boots, or place over them a pair of large slippers provided 
for that purpose by the verger on duty. These little pre- 
liminaries submitted to, no other demands are made, and the 
guide, along with his party, is free to wander all over the 
interior of St. Sophia at their leisure. 

The first feeling that influences the visitor is that of 
vast, uninterrupted space, the temple being in the form of 
a Greek cross, and measuring 245 feet by 270 feet, with 
a dome 115 feet in diameter at the widest part, and rising 
180 feet from the marble floor. In judging of the style, or 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT 



283 



mixture of styles, of which the structure consists, it should 
be recollected that the building was originally erected for a 
Greek temple ; that it became the cathedral of the capital 
in a.d. 325 ; that Justinian rebuilt it in 538, using in its re- 
suscitation spoils from all the grandest ecclesiastical remains 
of Egypt, Syria, and Greece. It thus presents to the eye a 
multitude of beautiful and artistic items, the skilful com- 
bination of which into one majestic fane evinces a degree of 
merit in the architect, for which he deserves almost as much 
credit as if the whole had been his own original conception. 
On the other hand, it has been deplored that the grand 
temples of antiquity should have been robbed for the sake 
of embellishing any modern pile, the only reconciling feature 
being that centuries ago these ancient relics, of which those 
of Ephesus and Baalbec may be regarded as the types, had, 
through earthquakes and other causes, been long reduced to 
ruins. Altogether there are 107 massive columns in posi- 
tion, of which number, six granite pillars came from the 
temples of Delos and Baalbec ; six of green jasper, from the 
temple of Diana at Ephesus ; and eight of porphyry, origin- 
ally placed by Aurelian in the Temple of the Sun at Kome, 
and removed hither by Constantine. 

Of such vast size, and composed of such varied treasures, 
it is not surprising that St. Sophia took eighteen years to 
rebuild, and occupied an army of twenty thousand workmen. 

The ascent to the gallery is accomplished, not by the 
usual device of steps, but by means of a series of gentle 
inclines, which pass around two of the massive pillars which 
support the back part of the building. The lameness of the 
Emperor, who completed the erection, is the reason assigned 
for this peculiarity of structure. Looking from the gallery 
the visitor cannot help being impressed by the massive 
splendour of the scene — the grand vista of priceless columns 
and bold arches supporting the dome, the walls radiant 
with various marbles, blue porcelain, and the ceilings still 
blushing with vividly-painted plaster-work and mosaics, on 
the great silver lamps beneath. But another train of 



284 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



thought supervenes when, on close examination, he finds that 
decay is everywhere apparent — the lime is dropping from 
between the stones, the once rich colours on the ceilings 
are in places stained or dulled by time and damp, and the 
mosaic devices are being surreptitiously picked out and 
sold by handfuls, each for a few piastres, to every stranger 
who will buy. This grand building, the original model for 
every mosque in Turkey, is not now a place of fashionable 
prayer ; hence, perhaps, its present neglected condition. 

The other principal mosques are those of Suleyman, 
Achmed, Sultan Mohammed II., Sultana Valideh (Fig. 63), 
and Eyob ; each has its merits, but it may be said that to 
have seen St. Sophia is to have seen them all ; consequently, 
the tourist with little time at his disposal will do well to pass 
immediately on to the next object of interest. 

On leaving this building the traveller finds himself 
in a large level, open space, like a barrack-yard, origin- 
ally 900 feet by 450 feet when formed by the Emperor 
Severus. This is the Hippodrome (Fig. 60). Its spacious 
length is interrupted by two stone monuments and the 
fragment of a bronze pillar. The first of these is an 
Egyptian obelisk of polished granite, fifty feet in height, 
and covered with hieroglyphics. It was brought from 
Heliopolis. For some time after its arrival it lay prone 
on the ground, but was afterwards set up by the aid of 
machinery, roughly depicted on the pedestal. At the other 
end of the Hippodrome is another monument of greater 
height, built of small stones, and exhibiting flourishing bushes 
growing out of the upper courses. This pillar is weather- 
worn, besides being shattered and indented with shot. The 
local story about it is, that on each occasion when shocks of 
earthquakes are felt a piece of artillery is taken out, and 
the monument fired at to level it with the earth, lest it 
should prove unsafe. It has, however, resisted every such 
attempt at its demolition, and still stands a ragged yet 
sturdy specimen of the mason's art ; but its purpose, its 
architect, and its builder have alike been lost in antiquity. 



286 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



Between those two obelisks, in a kind of pit, rests a 
mutilated bronze column of three twisted serpents, standing, 
as it were, on their tails. In former days the heads of the 
reptiles spread outwards, and were said to have supported 
the altar of the Delphic priestess of Apolo at Ephesus. 
The heads have been broken off ; two of them are lost, but 
the third is preserved as a precious relic in the Museum 
of Antiquities, in the old seraglio buildings not far off. 

In the immediate neighbourhood is the great rock-hewn 
cistern of Philoxenus, the vaulted roof of which is supported, 
it is alleged, by 1002 massive marble shafts ; but as each 
pillar is in three distinct lengths, the actual number is 
probably only 334. It is a spacious, cool vault, lighted by 
openings in the roof, which extends under some high ground 
situated above the level of the Hippodrome. This vast 
hollowed-out space was probably the quarry from which old 
Stamboul and its walls were built, and afterwards adapted 
by Philoxenus to contain the drinking water of the city. In 
the course of time, after the formation of aqueducts and 
fountains by Yalens, the great reservoir ceased to be used 
for this purpose, and became a common receptacle for debris, 
so that at present the cistern is filled with stones and soil 
for two-thirds of its depth. When the foundation for the 
adjoining mosque of Achmed was being dug, the earth was 
carried to the tank and thrown in ; accordingly, having on 
that occasion, and long before, been made a shoot for rubbish, 
this grand work, hollowed out of the solid rock at enormous 
expense, bids fair to be one day obliterated, as 668 lengths 
of massive marble pillars are already hidden from view. 
What remains of the vault is very spacious, and is used as a 
spinning factory for making silk thread and braid. 

Several other places of interest in the vicinity are also 
worthy of a visit. There are the Seven Towers, named by 
the Turks " Yedi Eouleh." This was once a State prison, 
and bears the sanguinary reputation of having been the 
scene of the murder of seven different sultans, done to death 
by the Janissaries, before those wild warriors themselves 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT 



287 



came to a violent end. Not far off is the museum of ancient 
and modern Turkish costumes, in which specimens of 
military and other dresses, with appropriate arms and 
implements, are displayed on lay figures. Some of these 
are grotesquely curious, some picturesque, and all are 
interesting. 

Another sight, which should not be overlooked, is the 
Museum of Antiquities. As it is only of late years that the 
Turkish Government has become alive to the value of the 
ancient sculptured and other remains, with which the empire 
once abounded, this collection is as yet neither large nor 
important. But as attention is now turned to the stocking 
of museums, and foreigners are no longer permitted to dig 
promiscuously for, and remove, treasures of ancient art with- 
out a firman — which is very difficult to obtain — this collec- 
tion may be expected to benefit in the future more largely 
than in the past. In addition to the usual mummies, sculp- 
tured Egyptian slabs, Babylonian cylinders, and remains of 
curious green metal things from Herculaneum and Pompeii, 
the museum possesses some good examples of Greek statuary 
in two fragments of colossal Jupiters, a Diana or two, and 
other well-preserved marbles, besides owning some most 
valuable bronzes, and a large collection of golden trinkets 
from the Troad. 

If properly advised, the tourist, on his way back from the 
foregoing scenes, will pause for a time ere crossing the 
Golden Horn by the pontoon bridge, to take a survey of the 
great bazaars. It will be but a hurried glimpse he will thus 
get at the latter end of a day, as to walk through the whole 
area without stopping a moment anywhere, either to examine 
the wares or to purchase, is said to occupy eight hours. 
This immense collection of shops, where every kind of native 
and foreign product is sold, is most interesting in itself, if 
one can only forget or put aside the annoyance of the per- 
petual solicitations to buy, which assail the foreign visitor 
on every side. The shops are arranged in series of long 
covered alleys, each specialty of manufacture or product 



288 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



being associated with others of a similar or kindred class. 
One vista is appropriated to the sale of carpets, prayer-rugs, 
&c. ; another alley accommodates the dealers in silks and 
light fabrics ; a third is occupied by the sellers of leather 
work ; a fourth department caters solely for the soldier, the 
sportsman, and the brigand, and shows nothing but myriads 
of rifles, guns, swords, spears, and daggers ; the adjoining- 
narrow passage is replete on both sides with all the fragrant 
drugs, condiments, and essences of the East ; the confec- 
tioners' and pastrycooks' avenue exhibits many a tempting 
morsel, and occasionally a pretty English mouth consum- 
ing the same, attracted thither perhaps by the announce- 
ment that the Prince of Wales once took an ice there ; 
while all through the heterogeneous display the sharp 
Armenian money-changer is seen, like a patient spider 
lurking behind his tiny glazed, wire-covered stall, ready for 
a percentage to transmute the coinage of any country under 
the sun into piastres. 

A commanding object, situated half-way up the hill to 
Pera, at once arrests the eye when the Stamboul side of the 
floating bridge is reached. It is the old Genoese watch 
tower (Fig. 57), used at present, as it was centuries ago, for 
the purpose of signalling ships, from the summit of which a 
magnificent view is obtained. From this coigne of vantage 
the visitor may in a quarter of an hour learn more re- 
garding the arrangement of Constantinople, and its relation 
to the adjoining country, than a week's patient street- 
plodding could teach. He will see, beginning at the 
extreme left, the distant European and Asiatic hills, the 
town of Skutari on the Bosphorus, and its Turkish and 
English cemeteries ; the pretty village of Kadikeui (the 
ancient Chalcedon), and Princes Islands, resting fair and 
lovely in the Sea of Marmora, ten miles away (Fig. 56). 
The next change of position reveals the Golden Horn and its 
three lighthouses, floating in safety a vast fleet of the ships of 
all nations ; while far below his feet he will note the closely- 
packed houses of Pera, Galata, and Topkhane, the artillery- 



290 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR; 



ground and buildings, Seraglio Point, the Mint, a crowd of 
sumptuous mosques, and the pontoon bridge. Still veering 




towards the right, the eye dwells upon an imposing pile of 
stone and lime connected with the War Ministry ; on the 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



291 



huge white fire-tower, with its fantastic top, and the 
picturesque old aqueduct, roofed with the reddest of tiles ; 
while a final turn of the head shows the second bridge of 
boats across the Sweet Waters of Europe, the arsenal, naval 
hospital, the pretty white-marble mosque of Eyob (Job), 
nestling among tall cypresses in the distance, and a fleet 
of serviceable ironclad ships-of-war moored stern to the 
shore, and evidently ready for any contingency. The 
whole panorama is as gorgeous as every individual item 
in it is interesting ; yet, perhaps, upon no points of the 
spacious landscape and long stretch of sea will the look 
of the Briton settle with keener attention than upon the 
ugly yellow barracks of Selimiyyeh at Skutari, where once 
upon a time ten thousand of our troops were lodged, and on 
the dark cemetery beyond, where eight thousand of them 
rest. 

Descending from the tower, the traveller cannot do better 
than continue his walk through the vicinity, which forms 
part of the foreign or Frankish quarter of Constantinople. 
On this side of the Golden Horn there were once three 
distinct cities — namely, Topkhane, G-alata, and Pera; but 
through the spread of population, and extension of buildings 
in every direction, the three have got merged into one, and 
cover most of the ground opposite Stamboul, or old Con- 
stantinople, and extend between the Golden Horn and the 
Bosphorus. Topkhane occupies the eastermost situation on 
the Bosphorus, opposite the town of Skutari, and is inhabited 
principally by the army entrusted with the defence of the 
capital ; Galata is owned and populated by members of 
almost every civilised nation in the world, and there most 
of the trade of the port is conducted ; while beautiful Pera, 
on the upper part of the hill, is also full of business people, 
and is the home of all the embassies and law courts 
connected with them. Thus there is a constant kaleido- 
scope of life presented at the handsome shop windows and 
meandering through the streets, so that a saunter in the 
Grande Hue, if not so replete with Oriental interest as a 

u t 



292 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 

lounge in Stamboul, has its evident compensations. In a 
word, a multitude of charming objects and places all over 
the hills upon which Constantinople is built, vie with one 
another in claiming the tourist's attention, apart from and 




Fig. 63.— Mosques of Sultana Valideh (Constantinople) illuminated. 



in addition to the exquisite trips here and there, up the 
Bosphorus, to Princes Islands in the Sea of Marmora, along 
the lines of railway to Adrianople, Broussa — the great silk 
centre of Asia Minor, and former capital of the Turkish 
Empire — and other places. If he be an artist whom this 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 293 

essay tempts into the region described, he will find his 
fortnight or month too short for all there is to see and do ; 
if a man of science, not an hour too long. The scenic 
variety, historical associations, brilliant sunshine, mag- 
nificent climate, and pure atmosphere cannot fail to 
produce an elasticity of body and spirit, to which the 
denizens of the ancient, but smoky, manufacturing cities 
of Great Britain are comparatively strangers. Indeed, the 
probability is, that the intelligent and unbiassed visitor 
from any part of Great Britain, who enjoys the advantage 
of good local information, who uses his own faculties upon 
the spot judiciously, and who, without claiming to be a 
prophet, can to some extent forecast events, will return to 
his home in due time well satisfied that this splendid 
inheritance should still be held by the Turkish nation 
rather than by the enemy of Europe and civilisation, the 
grim Octopus of the North. 



294 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOB ; 



CHAPTER XXII. 

GERMAN COMPETITION IN THE EAST. 

The British pilgrim who has been resident in Constantinople 
and parts of Asia Minor for a few weeks, cannot fail to have 
remarked the prevalence of German commodities in the 
shops and warehouses, and to hear on all hands of the 
spirit, pertinacity, and success with which the average 
commercial traveller pursues his trade. Now, instead of 
deploring and mourning over this German success in the 
East, as some of our home manufacturers and merchants 
have for years been doing, it would be at once more manly, 
and more to the purpose, to find out and strengthen the 
weak points in their own harness, or in some way to modify 
their commercial machinery, so as to place themselves more 
in line with their Teutonic rivals. It is true that German 
merchants all the world over receive more useful and hearty 
assistance from their consular agents than the British 
trader does from his; and no less certain is it that the 
German Government, through the eye and finger of Prince 
Bismarck, is ever alive to the needs, real or imaginary, 
and to gratify the longings, legitimate or otherwise, of 
its mercantile sons in every quarter of the earth. About 
these facts there can be no dispute; but, while they are 
admitted, it must still be allowed that there remains a 
wide margin, creditable to German forethought, energy, 
and enterprise, to account amply for their mercantile 
prosperity in the East, particularly in Asia Minor and 
other parts of Turkey. 

The days have long since disappeared when the wine 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



295 



trade was considered the unfailing, if the last, refuge for 
the broken-down, destitute gentleman ; so, in all the pur- 
suits of modern life, a failure in one calling is not now 
considered a sort of passport to another. On the contrary, 
it becomes every day apparent, as the Germans for years 
have seen, that suitable technical and other education will 
be more and more required for even ordinary success in 
any department of human industry, and that boys must 
henceforth be carefully and properly educated for the 
particular branch they are intended to follow. 

For the purely professional or scientific man the ac- 
quisition of the dead languages is indispensable, whilst a 
knowledge of contemporary tongues is simply desirable ; 
but for the lad destined to become a manufacturer or 
merchant, this part of his educational programme ought to 
be reversed. The Germans seem to have acted upon this 
belief for a considerable time, with the result that, among 
those met in commercial circles in any capital of the 
world, it is the rule to find most of them speaking several 
languages with accuracy and readiness, whereas the repre- 
sentatives of the greatest manufacturing and mercantile 
community in the world too frequently understand no 
tongue besides their own. 

In Asia Minor this neglect of modern languages, on the 
part of the British commercial house, has hitherto told 
largely in favour of the German ; as it has allowed him 
unopposed to ramble over an immense field of five hundred 
and eight thousand square miles of Ottoman territory, and 
to sell his goods and products, unchallenged by an incon- 
venient foreign rival, to more than sixteen millions of 
people. Unlike many of the large commercial firms of 
England and Scotland, who are usually content simply 
to deal with similar extensive concerns in Smyrna and 
Constantinople, the German house pushes its travellers, 
with a polyglot assortment of samples, into every nook and 
corner of the Turkish Empire, where the buyers are talked 
to in their own dialect, are shown specimens, and have all 



296 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR; 



little difficulties explained. The result is, that mutual 
confidence is established; because the traveller, noting 
what is required, supplies on the next occasion of his 
visit the article demanded, improved or modified to suit 
the taste or whim of his buyer, and thus deservedly carries 
away many orders. There is a degree of elasticity about 
the dealings of the German commercial traveller, which, 
added to his mastery of the various dialects, wins a hearing 
for him among the little shopkeepers or village dealers 
wherever he goes. His shapes, designs, fabrics, or colours 
may be infinitely superior to those to which his clients 
may have been accustomed; but the traveller does not 
dogmatically assert their excellence over the native articles 
shown, as some commercial men from Britain and America 
are somewhat apt to do. The German humours the country 
buyer in every possible way, and is prepared to furnish 
fac-similes of all articles exhibited, no matter how ugly, 
clumsy, or uncouth-looking to his educated eye they may 
appear. In districts remote from frequent contact with 
European civilisation, as many inland villages of Asia 
Minor are, the peasantry are to a great extent regardless 
of appearances. Of the fine arts they know little and care 
still less ; consequently, when bargaining, they look first 
to the general aspect or material of the article being 
familiar, then they inquire into its power of endurance, 
and, lastly, they are swayed by moderation in price, in 
which requirements the German travellers generally succeed 
in impressing the people favourably. 

These active and clever salesmen may be seen any day, 
well mounted and armed, accompanied by Turkish cavalry 
guards, setting forth at dawn from Skutari and other towns 
on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus ; from Broussa, the 
great silk entrepot of Turkey ; from Seraikeuy, the terminus 
of the Smyrna and Aidin Kail way ; and from other well- 
known centres of commerce, with their samples or stock 
secured on pack animals behind. True, they are fearless 
and intrepid men ; they are first-class business men ; and 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



297 



it is likewise certain, that they can each speak and make 
amusing little commercial jokes in several languages, which 
is probably one of the reasons of their success with country 
folk, who like heartiness of manner and fluency of speech ; 
but it is equally certain that, beyond the mastery of 
tongues, they possess no gifts of courage or ability 
necessarily denied to their British brethren of the road; 
and that their wares are in no instance superior to, if nearly 
so good as, those of British manufacture. 

At this point the element of forethought already alluded 
to may be explained, as it has played an important part in 
smoothing the way of the German all over Turkey in the 
past, and will doubtless exercise even a greater influence 
in the same direction in the future. British Governments 
of both political sides, in common with the other Powers 
of Europe, except Germany, have, for at least half a 
century, vied with each other in maintaining cumbrous^ 
comparatively useless, and expensive consular establish- 
ments, with corresponding tribes of idle, yet important- 
looking, officials in Constantinople and Smyrna. Thousands 
of pounds of public money are annually squandered upon 
the ambassadorial and consular residences, buildings, and 
gardens at Pera, on the Golden Horn ; at Therapia, on the 
Bosphorus; and upon the nondescript, gloomy consular 
pile at Smyrna. Wiser in its generation, the German 
Government spends comparatively little money in this 
manner, but is far from stinted in grants at both these 
great cities for educational purposes. The outcome of 
such a policy is, that learned German professors, of both 
sexes, have become the teachers of a large portion of the 
Christian youth, and many of the Mohammedan children 
of Turkey, thereby establishing a well-merited claim to 
the gratitude of the population. 

The Deaconesses Institution* in Smyrna, an educational 
establishment, conducted by a German lady for thirty-four 
years with marked ability and success, in which children of 
* Alluded to more particularly towards the end of Chapter XXV. 



298 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOPi ; 



all parentages and faiths have been and are being educated, 
is a good specimen of German philanthropy. Unfortunately., 
Turkish girls are generally removed from this most valuable 
college when they are about twelve years of age, so that 
they fail to reap the benefit that Greek, British, and the 
female children of other nationalities enjoy, who often, 
indeed generally, finish their education there. Still, the 
time they do spend with the deaconesses must be con- 
sidered of special value by their countrymen, for the 
Turkish girls invariably enter into the matrimonial state 
almost as soon as they leave. 

There is in this way a kindly disposition engendered in 
the minds of the Turkish people towards the Germans, 
which very naturally finds scope in their giving encourage- 
ment to German articles of manufacture. "But for the 
presence of a subsidised German college, supplemented by an 
American educational establishment near Constantinople," 
said an English gentleman, living at Per a last year, to the 
writer, " I could never have got my boys educated on the 
spot, as there are no similar British institutions in all 
Turkey." British officials in London would probably reward 
the proposer with the characteristic stony stare of the 
" Circumlocution Department," who would even hint at 
spending money in the East, as the Germans do, in a few 
wholesome, much-needed, and truly reproductive educational 
grants. Yet the same dignified beings experience no sense 
of impropriety or reproach in annually asking Parliament 
for £3000, or as much more as they think the legislative 
temper of the period is likely to stand, to squander upon 
official buildings and gardens in Constantinople, Smyrna, 
and elsewhere. Ambassadors and consuls — who in many 
cases are much too lavishly paid for their services, when 
compared with the scale of remuneration allowed by other 
nations, and judged by their own performances — ought to 
maintain their residences and gardens during their period 
of occupation at their own expense, seeing they enjoy them 
rent-free. On the contrary, they are perpetually dipping 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 299 



into the public purse without shame or rebuke, while 
British subjects in Turkey, whose commercial activity 
creates national wealth in every direction, are not allowed 
even the most juvenile of Board schoolmasters, and are 
dependent on Americans, Germans, and Greeks, for the 
education of their children. Following a better role, the 
Germans refuse to starve education, either at home or abroad, 
for the sake of enabling a few plethoric officials to make 
and keep up a vulgar show. Doubtless, it is in this good 
and sensible system, that the secret of German commercial 
success in the East lies. Our manufacturers and merchants 
have their share of the lesson to learn, as well as all future 
British legislators ; and until it is thoroughly conned, under- 
stood, and practised, the German commercial grasp on the 
trade of Asia Minor, and on the East generally, is bound to 
strengthen, while ours must relax. 



300 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE BOSPHOKUS. 

If asked to join a party, about to proceed along the Bos- 
phorus for a day, and indulge in a picnic on its fairy-like 
shores, my impression is, that the traveller is not yet born 
who, being in Constantinople at the time, and free at the 
moment from any other engagements, could refuse. On 
the 15th June, 1885, I fulfilled these conditions ; I was 
requested to form one of such a party, and it need scarcely 
be added that I gladly acquiesced. 

In view of the event, we breakfasted somewhat earlier 
than usual, and the steward of the steamer with which I 
had arrived from Smyrna having packed a hamper or two 
with such appetising fare as his pantry afforded, the party, 
including the captain, the steward, and a Hebrew guide 
left the ship, got on board a Bosphorus steamer, and, shortly 
thereafter, started in the direction of the Euxine, under the 
influences of bright sunshine, a fresh breeze, and the best 
of spirits. The beautiful strait known as the Thracian 
Bosphorus, begins at an imaginary line drawn between 
Seraglio Point, Stamboul, on the European side, and Fanar 
Point, near Kadikeui, on the Asiatic shore (Fig. 58) ; and it 
terminates at the entrance to the Black Sea, between the 
headlands occupied by the lighthouses of Boumili and 
Anatola (Fig. 69). The length of the strait, including its 
windings, is about seventeen miles; the breadth varies 
between eight hundred yards and one and a half miles; 
while the depth of water in the centre deviates between one 
hundred and twenty feet to over one hundred and thirty 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



301 



yards. With such a volume of water as these measurements 
indicate, constantly flowing westwards with considerable 
impetus out of the Euxine into the Sea of Marmora, it 
might reasonably be concluded that the progress of vessels 
steering a north-easterly course would be seriously impeded. 
There would, undoubtedly, be great interruption to traffic, 
but for the tortuous form of the strait, whose numerous 
twists and promontories break and divert the force of the 
current, which is driven hither and thither, leaving many 
stretches of smooth water between what may be called the 
rapids. This being the case, even rowing-boats experience 
little difficulty in making way. There are periods of tem- 
pest, however, when neither pulling, nor any other descrip- 
tion of boats are likely to have a time of enjoyment in this 
usually placid strait. Such an epoch is pictured in the 
fifth canto, fifth stanza, of ' Don Juan,' by Lord Byron, where 
he says : — 

" The wind swept down the Euxine, and the wave 
Broke foaming o'er the blue Symplegades ; 

"lis a grand sight from off the ' Ghaut's Grave ' 
To watch the progress of those rolling seas 

Between the Bosphorus, as they lash and lave 
Europe and Asia, you being quite at ease; 

There's not a sea the passenger e'er pukes in, 

Turns up more dangerous breakers than the Euxine." 

These are scarcely the proper pages in which to engage 
in a serious inquiry regarding the probable origin of the 
gigantic submarine cleft, which, extending along the Pro- 
pontis and Hellespont, has, in prehistoric, or early ages, 
separated two continents. The matter has doubtless fre- 
quently received the attention of the savants of Europe, but 
as the subject is still as much as ever involved in obscurity, 
there may be no harm in giving the reader the benefit of 
one more opinion to the effect that, if the Bosphorus and 
Dardanelles were really the work of volcanic agency, it may 
not be unreasonable to imagine that, by the same violent 
means, those great waterways may one day be closed. The 
works of Nature are beautifully balanced, and the law of 



302 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



compensation reigns everywhere. If the sea tears away 
miles of dry land here, it is restored somewhere else ; if an 
island sinks, another rises ; if a vast chasm suddenly occurs 
in one country, be sure that a mountain has been thrust up 
in another. It is perfectly reasonable to suppose that the 
channel in question, particularly that of the Bosphorus, 
could never have been formed solely by the action of water 
running at the mild speed of only four or five miles an hour. 
The great depth of the ravine, and the remarkable corre- 
spondence between the projecting capes on one side, and 
retreating bays on the other, forbid any except the belief 
that this vast crack in the earth's crust was formed by some 
terrific earthquake. To go a step further, it is not un- 
reasonable to suggest that it may have been the same con- 
vulsion which, scooping out the profound depression in 
Syria, known as the Dead Sea and valley of the Jordan, 
thrust the materials upwards in the middle of Asia Minor in 
the form of the 13,000 feet volcano Agridagh. Not un- 
likely, too, it may have been the same terrible concentration 
of subterranean forces which elevated the volcanic cones 
of Java, and in the islands adjoining ; notably the great 
Krakatoa, which, a few years ago, broke up with such 
violence and commotion, that it sent a wave several times 
round the earth. In the latter example, the compensating 
volcanic effort appears to have been the recent disturbance 
in the north of New Zealand, by which the lava and mud 
of Mount Taravera have obliterated many square miles of 
territory, solidly filled up some lakes, and destroyed the 
pink terraces of Botomahana. That which has happened 
before may occur again, and we have the warrant of Scripture 
as written in Eevelation xvi. 18,* if read as a prophetic 
warning, for believing that, vast as has been the disturbance 
caused by volcanic agency in the past, it will be greatly 
exceeded at some future period. What more likely, then, 

* "And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there 
was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, 
so mighty an earthquake, and so great." 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



303 



that the final settlement of the Eastern Question may 
depend upon the occurrence of this grand, promised per- 
turbation ; a solution which the united brains of European 
statesmen have hitherto sought in vain to achieve ? The 
earthquake just alluded to is the last mentioned in Holy 
Writ, and is specialized as the greatest since the earth 
became habitable ; so, what more probable than that it should 
be the means of restoring the territorial conditions of Syria 
and Asia Minor, which existed ere the vast fissures of the 
Jordan valley and the Bosphorus were made ? The catas- 
trophe would be tremendous, and conceivably might occur 
in this way : — A terrible earthquake, acting upon the 
eastern shores of Syria, might form a rent sufficiently deep 
and wide to admit the waters of the Mediterranean into the 
abyss of the Dead Sea,* and, in time, fill it up to its own 
level. Simultaneously with the opening of this new channel, 
by the law of compensation, another would likely close ; and 
that other, as being in the line of volcanic energy, would 
probably be the Bosphorus. This outlet once permanently 
stopped, the waters of the Black Sea would seek a discharge 
in the direction of the Caspian ; the Kussian fleet in those 
waters might then be sold for firewood and old iron, and 
the Sultan of Turkey would be the first of his race emanci- 
pated from the fear of the ever-prowling bear. 

The voyage commenced from the Bridge of Boats 
(Fig. 57), which crosses the Golden Horn beyond the 
commercial port ; a point from which good views are ob- 
tained of several mosques, particularly those of the Sultan 
Suleyman, and the Sultana Valideh (Fig. 63). The little 
steamer was in charge of a Turkish captain, who used the 
same words of command to the engineers so familiar to the 
ear of the voyager upon the Thames, the Mersey, or the 

* " At the present time (1866) the depression of the surface of the 
Dead Sea below the general ocean-level may be stated, in round numbers, 
to be over 1000 feet ; but there is as yet no accord among observers. 
Symonds gives the figures as 1231 feet ; De Berton, 1290 feet; Kussegger, 
1341 feet; Wildenbruch, 1351 feet; Lynch, over 1300 feet; and the 
Due de Luynes, 1286 feet." — Bitter's ' Comparative Geography.' 



304 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



Clyde. Presently the swift little vessel edged away from 
the crumbling wooden pontoon, and sailed towards the 
eastern extremity of Constantinople. 

On making inquiry how it happened that the usual 
orders were not given in Turkish, it was explained that 
those steamers had all originally been manned and worked 
by English or Scotch captains and crews ; that some of 
the engineers were still Scotch, and that, as the Turkish 
language contained no suitable equivalents for " full speed, 
half speed, stop her, ease her," and so on, these words had 
been by the Turks adopted and retained. 

Within the next few minutes Pera, Galata, and Topkhane 
were passed, good views being obtained of the artillery 
enclosure and buildings, also those of the Admiralty, where 
on one occasion the Prince of Wales was lodged during a 
visit to the Sultan. A little further on we were gliding 
close to the front of the magnificent imperial palace of 
Dolma Bagtche, a building for the most part faced or 
decorated with white marble, beautifully sculptured. This 
costly pile was reared by the late Sultan, Abdul Aziz, and 
is within sight of another, about equally gorgeous, in which 
that ill-fated monarch was assassinated. 

From the European side of the Bosphorus the bow of the 
steamer was now turned towards the Asiatic, and after 
passing Leander's Tower, erected on a rock in the waterway 
(Fig. 61), which combines in one building a lighthouse and 
fort, we stopped for a minute or two at Skutari. The 
original name of this town was Chrysopolis, or the Golden 
City ; but by the Turks it is at present recognised as 
" Uskudar," on account of its being a posting-station, where 
travellers, about to penetrate into the interior of Asia, obtain 
transport animals and couriers. Its situation is at once 
commanding and beautiful ; but the chief interest connected 
with the neighbourhood, to the British tourist, lies in the 
fact, that so many countrymen are buried in its cemetery ; 
and few fail to go ashore, with the object of examining the 
scene of Florence Nightingale's unselfish labours, and to 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



305 



inspect Marochetti's monument, erected in commemoration 
of our soldiers, the victims of the Crimean struggle of 
1854. 

The next station is at the village of Kaclikeui (Figs. 58 
and 62), a favourite home of the merchants and some of the 
officials of the capital, on account of its geniality in winter. 
It is so situated that it benefits in summer by cool breezes 
both from the Bosphorus and the Sea of Marmora, yet 
escapes the terribly cutting winds from the Black . Sea, 
which prove such an annoyance in Constantinople during 
the early months of the year. Towards the end of the 
ground tapering off to the right near Fanar Point, as 
pictured in Fig. 58, are still to be found the remains of 
ancient Chalcedon of Bithynia, built by a colony of Greeks 
from Megara. By classical writers this unfortunate site was 
ridiculed by being called " the city of blind men," on 
account of its position and alleged inconsiderate plan. 

Leaving Kadikeui, the steamer turned, and to some extent 
retraced her course by crossing to the European side towards 
Cabatasch, and thence to Bechiktasch. Once more the 
grand pile of Dolma Bagtche came full in view, followed by 
the still larger palace of Cheraghan, rendered notorious as 
the scene, already referred to, of a late Sultan's murder- 
This is truly a handsome building, and with its offices and 
gateways occupies nearly half a mile of frontage to the 
strait, presenting to the eye a marvellous, yet melancholy, 
expanse of white marble and the richest floral carving. The 
melancholy feeling, experienced when surveying those hand- 
some Bosphorus palaces, must arise from association only, as 
there is nothing about them outwardly either weird or tragic. 
Yet, if one can credit the guides, every building there owns 
its miserable story of crime, and probably every yard of 
water in front of them might be made to yield up its awful 
evidences of former brutalities in many a weighted bag of 
human bones, the relics of a ruder and fiercer age. On the 
present occasion, all looked bright and beautiful, and had 
not this palace of blood been specially pointed out, thereby 

x 



S06 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOB. 



recalling the melancholy tale connected with it, no cloud 
would for a moment have rested upon any of the party. 

High up on the hill-top is a small, plain palace, in which 
the present Sultan resides for the most part of his time. 
Afterwards my party secured some landward vrews of this 
modest kiosk, taken on the occasion of His Majesty's 
weekly visit to one of the Constantinople mosques, during 
the period of Ramizan. On such occasions a large force of 
artillery, cavalry, and infantry lines the road on both sides 
over which the Sultan intends to pass, and the carriages of 
the household are preceded and followed by a considerable 
guard of troops.* 

On the same side of the strait, a mile or two on, rather a 
handsome mosque with two minarets attracted our attention, 
standing on a point projecting into the Bosphorus. It is 
named Ortakeuy. and some years ago used to be a favourite 
place of worship with a former monarch, who frequently 
visited it by water on Fridays, the Mohammedan day of 
rest. At a little distance the whole building would readily 
be mistaken for a structure of white marble, so well is the 
work executed ; but a nearer approach reveals it to be only 
of brick and plaster, carefully painted and white-washed. 

Anon the steamer shot past picturesque wooden villages, 
where every house displayed its projecting balcony glowing 
with flowers, and any gloomy thoughts connected with 
former dark deeds in the marble palaces below evaporated, 
under the splendour of the sunshine, and the ozone of the 

* This ceremony is known as the " Selamlik." We waited about an 
hour, at a part of the road appointed for the carriages of foreigners, ere 
the pageant began. First came a number of troops with bands, then a 
crowd of eunuchs and servants, followed by more soldiers and music. 
Next in order were a few black pioneers with axes, as like executioners 
as possible ; some distance behind followed carriages containing the 
Sultan's children, very pretty, but delicate-looking; and immediately 
succeeding them came the Sultan's mother, who seemed to get the bulk of 
popular attention, on account of the quantity of piastres she kept 
scattering from her carriage window. After another interval the Sultan 
himself appeared, surrounded by guards, and followed by a large detachment 
of horsemen. 



308 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



saline breeze, helped, probably, by the brightest of eyes 
gleaming from behind the greenest of lattice-work. There 
seemed a delicious spell in the sight of the rippling waves, 
and in the feeling of the balmy air, which forbade dull 
retrospection, and buoyed us all up with the keenest ex- 
pectation for the beauty yet in store. 

Crossing to the Asiatic side, we passengers were rewarded 
by a long look at probably the most beautiful, if the smallest, 
and very likely the most expensive for its size, of all the 
Sultan's residences (Fig. 64). 

The pretty toy is wholly faced with sculptured white 




Roberts' College. Rumli Hissar. Anadolu Hissan 

Bosphorus. 

Fig. 65.— Looking towakds the Black Sea. 



marble ; and the beautiful gateway, the lamp supports, and 
indeed all the visible stone-work consists of the same ex- 
pensive material, while the railings are of gilded bronze. 
Persons at home are often apt to wonder what becomes of 
all the money the Turkish Government borrows from time 
to time ; but any one seeing those magnificent Bosphorus 
palaces just alluded to, need have no difficulty in readily 
accounting for at least a few millions. 

Still, backwards and forwards went the steamer over 
those pellucid waves, one time in Europe and quarter of an 
hour afterwards in Asia; touching altogether at eighteen 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



309 



different landing-places during the short voyage of seven- 
teen miles. At length we approached the narrowest part 
of the strait, between the old Genoese castles Rurnli and 
Anadolu Hissar, the channel being only eight hundred 
yards wide (Fig. 65). Tradition indicates this as the point 
where the Persian King Darius at one time fixed to cross 
into Europe with his army ; and history marks it as the 
locality whence both Goths and Crusaders entered Asia. It 
was at this narrow but deep passage, also, that Mehemet II. 
found his way over, immediately before the siege and fall 
of Constantinople. That this particular spot should have 




Anadolu Hissar. Rumli Hissar. Roberts' College. 

Fig. 66.— Looking towards Constantinople. 



been selected as the theatre of so many important military 
operations is all the more astonishing when we find, that 
the current continually rushes past from the Black Sea at 
the rate of five miles an hour. 

The attention of the tourist is certain now to be directed 
to a large, rather plain-looking building, situated some 
little distance up the hill from the old castle of Eumli 
Hissar. This pile is a noble American institution, named 
after the founder, Koberts' College (Figs. 65 and 66). It 
is supported by voluntary contribution, and was designed 
for the thorough education of native youth. Large 



310 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



numbers of young men have already benefited from its 
intellectual facilities ; and it is said that this is the source 




Fig. 67.— "Rumli Hissae," an old Genoese 
Castle on European Side of Bosphorus. 



from which the Bulgarian people 
have acquired their love of 
liberty, and had their energies 
quickened in the assertion of their 
independence, while seeking to 
build up a nation by the aid of 
their Eoumelian brethren. It 
appears that the Prime Minister 
of the late ruler Prince Alex- 
ander, as well as many of the 
more intelligent of the popu- 
lation in European Turkey, are 
graduates of this worthy school ; 
so it would not be in the least 
surprising any day to learn that 
the sinister and malevolent eye 
of Kussia had fallen upon such 
a noble institution, and that 
the Czar had demanded its suppression. 

Safe from the turmoil of water just alluded to, in the 
beautiful Bay of Therapia, on the European shore, is the 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



311 



anchorage for the yachts and armed vessels attached to the 
establishments of the various ambassadors, whose summer 
quarters are situated at one extremity of this lovely gulf. 
The more northern building is the house of the British 
Minister, a large brown, wooden erection of a warm sepia 
tint, standing on a point of land projecting considerably 
beyond the other official residences. From the deck of the 
steamer it offers rather an imposing aspect, but a closer 
inspection reveals its dingy shabbiness when compared with 
the magnificent marble palaces recently passed ; and the 
combustible material of its structure raises the fear that 




Fig. 68. — Anadolu Hissak and Rumli Hissar on Bosphorus, looking towards 
Constantinople. 



some morning the ambassadorial pile will have disappeared 
in smoke during the night. Meanwhile it will probably 
be remembered by politicians as having been the temporary 
home of the British Commissioner, Sir Henry Drummond 
Wolff (of whom ' A Legend of Westminster, October 
1884/ remarks — 

" To the front came another hold strider, 
Of Lib'rals a constant derider ; 
Sir H. D. Wolff named, 
For whom Chamberlain claimed 
He'd be known as the £ lion's provider ' "), 



312 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



during the autumn of 1885 and for some time afterwards, 
from whence he made daily excursions to the Porte, to 
draw up, along with the highly-amused Turks, paper 
constitutions for Egypt, and issued invitations to his select 
little dances. 

The adjoining bay, that of Buyukdere (Fig. 69), is even 
more charming than the last. It is simply the extension of 
a beautiful valley, and is pronounced by nautical men as 
safe from all violent winds ; hence the charm it offers to 
numbers of wealthy Constantinople merchants, many of 
whom live there all the year round. Besides the attractive- 




Fig. 69. — Best Anchorage— Bosphorus— Entrance to Black Sea— Buyukdere Bay — 
Anatola Light. 



ness of the view — right up into the Black Sea — and the 
salubrity of the neighbourhood, the bay affords a first-class 
refuge for ships of any size. 

In 1832 a Kussian squadron of twelve ships of the line 
anchored in this fine natural harbour, and landed ten 
thousand soldiers to protect the Sultan of the period 
against the victorious Pacha of Egypt, who had won the 
battle of Eomeli. 

Inland, the country is equally enticing, and good roads 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 313 

render moving about, either on foot or on wheels, a pleasure 
as compared with the terrible penance either means of 




Fig. 70.— Group of Turkoman Gypsies, similar to some seen at Therafia. 



locomotion becomes at Smyrna. To the west lies the great 
forest of Belgrade ; and the reservoirs and aqueducts, which 



314 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



collect and supply Constantinople with water, are in the 
neighbourhood. 

On the present occasion we all landed at Buyukdere* Bay, 
the remaining few miles of the Bosphorus up to the Black 
Sea not being so interesting as those already passed, or 
sufficiently alluring to attract any member of the party 
thither. At this place some sketches were made, after 
which we walked back to Therapia, where, under a magni- 
ficent historical plane tree — said to be more than two 
thousand years old, beneath which Kichard Coeur de Lion 
and his forces encamped in 1191 on their return from a 
crusade — our fine linen was spread and our luncheon 
enjoyed. Perhaps the last word of the previous sentence is 
hardly the most appropriate that might under the circum- 
stances be used, as our relish for the refreshment was 
somewhat interfered with by the whining mendicancy of 
the women and children belonging to a tribe of wild 
Turkoman gypsies, who had pitched their tents near. 
These came begging and snivelling around ; but as they 
appeared to be really in want of nothing except soap and 
modesty, they were all summarily dismissed, when further 
endurance of their proximity became impossible. The 
subjoined illustration (Fig. 70) gives an exact idea of the 
appearance and dress of those Bohemians. The grown-up 
women were ugly beyond description, yet some of the 
children had good features, and might even have been 
called pretty ; but their good looks, such as they were, could 
scarcely be distinguished beneath layers of accumulated 
dirt. 

After luncheon we made a tour into the forest to gain an 
insight into its botany, but the time at our disposal did not 
admit of the discovery of any novelties. On our return to 
the great plane tree we found that an enterprising little 
Frenchman had opened a hitherto unsuspected door in one 
of the partially-decayed limbs, revealing all the accessories 
of a well-furnished coffee-shop. In a trice he had a kettle 
over an oil-lamp stove, and in a very short time a service of 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



315 



fragrant coffee and biscuits was handed round, of which we 
all partook. Sketches were then completed, particularly of 
the giant plane tree, which must in its day have been truly 
a monarch of the adjoining forest. The greater part of the 
trunk is entirely decayed away to below the surface of the 
soil ; but the branches which remain, springing, as they have 
done, direct from the ancient ruin, and towering to the 
height of more than two hundred feet, give a vivid notion 
of what the grand old patriarch must have been like when 
Richard the crusader took shelter underneath its shade. 

The day was now far spent, and as our steamer was 
nearly due, we hastened to the pier at Therapia, rejoined it 
there, and were speedily taken back to our starting-point at 
Constantinople. 



316 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

CONSTANTINOPLE TO DEDE AGATCH AND SMYBNA. 

The trip upon the beautiful Bosphorus, as may readily 
be believed, whetted the appetite of every passenger on 
board for other excursions upon that charming strait. 
Accordingly, some of us visited separately the town and 
cemeteries of Skutari, where many British soldiers rest ; 
some spent a day or two with friends at Rumli Hissar, 
at Therapia and at Kadikeui ; while others enjoyed many 
hours at Princes Islands, in the Sea of Marmora. 

One object of interest, however, none of us had as yet 
visited, indeed we were told that it was a waste of time 
going to the little village of Eyob, a few miles up the 
Golden Horn, as the Turks there were represented as being 
always hostile to Christians. Nevertheless a small party was 
made up, and we went. Having retained the guide, Moses, 
for the day, we took a steamer at the upper side of the 
Bridge of Boats, and soon became interested in the busy 
scene around. A little way along the Golden Horn we 
passed near a number of serviceable-looking war-ships of 
both ancient and modern type ; * also a fleet of armour- 
clad rams moored with their sterns towards the shore and 
their stems chained to buoys. Some distance from the 
latter, further out in the creek, a row of guard-boats, covered 

* According to some English newspaper correspondents, writing at the 
date when the Servian invasion of Bulgarian territory seemed imminent, 
when the Turkish authorities ordered out some of these war-ships to 
carry troops from Asia Minor to Roumelia and Macedonia, they could not 
be used for lack of repairs. 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



317 



with deck-houses, were anchored. These sentinels were 
placed to prevent any access to the ironclads from the 
creek. On the same shore stand a large number of Govern- 
ment buildings connected with naval purposes, and there 
was an air of activity pervading the neighbourhood which 
seemed to indicate that the Turks were not neglecting 
their fleet. After somewhat less than an hour's sailing, 
during which the Sweet Waters of Europe, as the creek 
beyond the bridges is called, was crossed and recrossed 
several times to meet the convenience of passengers at 
the various little wooden piers, we arrived at the village 
of Eyob, otherwise "Job," and walked leisurely through 
its streets to the hill beyond, where a noble view of the 
vicinity is obtained. This place possesses the unique 
attraction of a beautiful mosque, wholly faced outside and 
in with white marble, but within which, it is said, no 
Christian has ever been permitted to enter. In it are 
preserved the sanjah-sherif, or Mohammed's banner; like- 
wise the sword of Osman, with which each sultan is invested 
on his accession; a ceremony as suggestive to the Turks 
as a coronation is to us. It was of little use, we thought, ap- 
plying for admission where, it was said, the Prince of Wales 
had been refused ; accordingly, we simply looked in at the 
jealously-guarded gate in passing, and proceeded to the hill, 
used as a cemetery, to enjoy the view. The day being hot 
the climb among the tombstones proved fatiguing, but the 
beautiful panorama seen from the top was well worth the 
exertion. At our feet rose the pretty white marble mosque 
towering over the creek, with the grim, black war-ships on 
the opposite side in the dim distance. Beyond these rose 
the buildings of beautiful Pera, the less imposing structures 
of Galata and Stamboul, while far to the right and left 
could be seen a crowd of Mohammedan temples dominated 
by the grand mosque of St. Sophia. The tombs themselves 
offered but few attractions, as Turkish taste in mortuary 
matters is wholly different from European. Carved and 
inscribed marble tablets were lying or nodding about at 



318 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR; 



all sorts of angles, and many of them were prone on the 
ground. A Turkish mourner seems to grudge no expense 
in the erection of a memorial to the dead, but the moment 
the monument is finished its decay begins, as no further 
care seems to be lavished upon the structure. One 
very humane feature of most of their places of sepulture 
consists in the provision of a little hollowed-out trough to 
contain water for stray dogs. Why they should be so 
considerate towards animals they affect to despise so much, 
and with which the older Moslems used never to be tired 
of comparing Christians, is one of those mysteries which 
still remain unsolved. On our way back we took another 
peep inside the gate of the marble mosque, but Cerberus, 
aided by a multitude of veiled women and children, was 
still on the watch, so that our curiosity remained un- 
satisfied, and we had to return to the ship, pleased certainly 
with the trip and the view, but unable to boast of having 
effected an entrance. 

Although none of us were satiated with our fortnight's 
gadding about, or tired of frequently staining the paper 
of our sketch-books, the period at length arrived — and we 
felt it to be much too soon — when the fiat went forth that 
the wire cables must be unshackled, and that our steamer 
must proceed to the coast of Koumelia. While this re- 
leasing process was going on, an enthusiastic young lady 
on board seemed to suffer in her endeavours to arrange in 
her diary the names and order of the places near Constan- 
tinople she had seen or visited during the past few days ; 
and it was in assisting her that I became aware of the 
quantity of work we had really accomplished. Her notes 
had got a little muddled in referring to the Bosphorus, 
where there were so many crossings of the strait; but 
after a little patience the puzzle was disentangled. It 
was found to every one's amazement that, counting both 
shores, we had seen, closely inspected, or visited during our 
stay of a couple of weeks, no fawer than thirty-two towns 
and villages. 



OR, NOTES FROM TEE LEVANT. 



319 



Once more, then, the steamer was emancipated from 
buoyhood, and on the afternoon of the 27th June the screw 
commenced to revolve. Seraglio Point was rounded ; 
Malm Kivi, near Stamboul — devoted to the manufacture 
of Government cannon and gunpowder — was quickly 
passed ; San Stefano, the most distant suburb of the 
capital, gradually disappeared from view into the rippling 
wavelets ; and the sun set amidst all the superb glory 
which heralded its rise and our arrival. 

The return voyage along the Sea of Marmora and 
through the Dardanelles differed in no degree, except a 
change in some of the passengers, from the outward tour. 
To be sure there was a stoppage at Kodosto, of about four 
hours, to take in grain and canary seed ; and next day I 
had the duty of conducting the morning service in the 
saloon. This occurred in the vicinity of the pretty white 
marble island of Marmora (Fig. 55), and before the steamer 
got as far as the important town of Gallipoli (Fig. 54). Most 
of the passengers attended, but the crew, having been at 
work most of the previous night, were excused. The service 
was celebrated with the assistance of a passenger, who read 
one of the lessons and a hymn, and those present seemed 
interested. 

Towards evening the vessel had got into the Archipelago, 
and, ere darkness set in, passed the grand, rugged pile of 
Imbros, a mass of uncouthness half concealed by heavy, 
lowering clouds. Although presenting to the view the 
roughest possible outline, as seen in the waning light, this 
island is by no means barren or unfruitful. Its area is 
about 116 square miles ; its highest summit rises above 
the sea to the height of 1845 feet; the whole is well 
wooded, and its valleys produce an abundance of oil, 
cotton, corn, and grapes. From the earliest period Imbros 
has been subjected to frequent and sweeping political 
changes. Ancient history informs us that for a time the 
islanders remained independent, and were governed by 
their own laws ; but afterwards they fell into subjection 



320 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOB ; 



successively to Persia, Athens, Macedonia, and to the rulers 
of Pergamos, and finally became a Eornan province ; while, 
for the present, the territory forms a part of Turkey. 

Scarcely had Imbros been passed than the dim outline of 
the mighty red marble island of Samothraki (Fig. 72) was 
seen, and as the steamer approached nearer, although the 
night was further advanced, its distinguishing features were 
quite visible. Although enjoying only a small area, this 
island possesses the loftiest mountain in the whole Greek 




Fig. 11.— Dede Agatch, Roumelia. Termination of the Adrianople Railway. 



Archipelago, the summit of which, towering to the height 
of 5248 feet, when glistening with snow, is easily seen from 
the plains of Troy above the intervening highlands of 
Imbros. As Samothraki does not possess a single good 
port, although not devoid of fair anchorages, the island has 
never proved of much value as a commercial possession, 
and its history is unimportant. Anciently, however, the 
religious rites practised there were held in the highest 
veneration ; and Suidas states that the general belief was 



OR, NOTES Fit OH THE LEVANT. 



321 



that those who visited the island, and had been initiated 
into the mysteries, were protected against all future danger ; 
but in what these mysteries consisted, beyond the general 
knowledge that they were instituted in connection with the 
gloomy adoration of the Cabeiri, the learned seem as yet 
unable to give any information. It is to this imposing 
island that allusion is made under the name of Samothracia 
in Acts xvi. 11 : " Therefore loosing from Troas, we came 
with a straight course to Samothracia, and the next day to 
Neapolis." 

Black night now rapidly succeeded, but guided by the 




Fig. 72. — Ships loading Gkain is the Bay of Ded£ Agatch, Samothkaki Island. 



one brilliant eye glimmering from the lighthouse at Dede 
Agatch, on the coast of Koumelia (Fig. 71), the steamer at 
length dropped her anchor in the open bay about a mile 
from the beach. 

In the midst of torrents of rain the following morning, 
which proved most refreshing after the dust and heat of 
Constantinople, this outlying corner of Turkey looked 
verdant and pleasant to the eye. Dede Agatch forms the 
present seaside terminus to the system of Eoumelian rail- 
ways, already completed to Adrianople and Philippopoli. 
These are intended to penetrate to a point on the Danube 

Y 



322 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



near Belgrade, where a junction will ultimately be effected 
with the Austrian lines. When these works are complete, 
it is expected that this port may become of some value for 
shipping wheat and other produce collected from the rich 
agricultural provinces through which the various railways 
pass. In the meantime, however, there being no depth of 
water or protection for ships inshore — only a small harbour, 
built by the railway company, possessing seven feet of water? 
used by fishing-boats and lighters — large vessels must 
anchor (Fig. 72) at some distance from land with steam up, 
ready to slip out to sea on the shortest notice, whenever the 
south-west wind blows, which it often does with great 
violence. At first sight the critic will feel inclined to 
question the judgment of the engineers who fixed upon this 
particular spot for a commercial port, and his criticism, 
however adverse, will not be far wrong. It appears that a 
few years ago plans were submitted to the Turkish authori- 
ties in connection with the extension of the line from 
Adrianople to a point on the coast, and the terminus chosen 
was the thriving town of Kodosto, on the Sea of Marmora, 
situated about seventy miles from Constantinople, an 
arrangement which would have proved convenient for 
shipping, and would have possessed the additional merit in 
Turkish eyes of placing the terminus thoroughly under 
Ottoman control. Meanwhile other eyes had lighted on the 
proposed extension, and restless, plotting brains were at 
work to secure some advantage for Russia at the expense 
of the " Sick Man." Through Muscovite influence and 
perseverance, aided, doubtless, by Turkish apathy, ignorance, 
or the corruption of some of the officials, the line was 
diverted from its south-eastern course after passing Adria- 
nople, and taken by a south-westerly route to the northern 
part of the Greek Archipelago ; so the terminus, instead of 
being built at Rodosto, as originally intended, is now on the 
Roumelian shore, opposite the island of Samothraki, at the 
aforesaid unhealthy, obscure, little village of Dede Agatch. 
The new line of railway has not been long in operation, yet 



OR, NOTES FROM TEE LEVANT. 323 

sufficiently so to indicate that a large shipping business in 
cereals and other agricultural products may be expected 
whenever a safe port has been constructed, in which sea- 
going steamers can load. Now, should the permanent 
separation of Eastern Koumelia from Turkey be accom- 
plished, there will be additional reasons why a good and 
safe harbour should be immediately constructed at Dede 
Agatch, as vessels seeking loads at this place, by saving the 
tolls, dues, and risks of the Dardanelles and Sea of Marmora, 
will be well able to disburse the charges of the new port. 
Doubtless, indeed, their very numbers will encourage the 
Koumelian authorities to proceed with the work, and ere 
long the hungry mouths of Europe will be provided with 
another granary, bringing them nearer a condition of inde- 
pendence with regard to American and Kussian supplies. 
While Kussian cunning and Eoumelian impatience are thus 
offering a boon to the ships of all nations, it is well not to 
overlook the political aspect of this matter. Eussia has 
already shown that the range of the Balkan mountains 
forms no insurmountable obstacle to the invasion of Turkey, 
and as that crafty, unscrupulous, and untrustworthy Power 
has long been feeling about for a safe opening into the 
Mediterranean from which she might issue at will to agitate 
and torment all Europe, she probably thinks she has gained 
the reversion of one at Dede Agatch. In view of such an 
event, it is well within the range of probability that Eussia 
will now carry on her plotting against the nations of the 
Balkan Peninsula with redoubled vigour, in the hope of soon 
swallowing up both Bulgaria and Eoumelia. When this 
act of wholesale deglutition has been successfully performed, 
her next move will likely be the extension of the Adrianople 
line to Lake Bori, only nine miles distant, most conveniently 
situated for the construction of fortresses and arsenals. 
These completed, Eussia will then doubtless consider herself 
able to assail Constantinople simultaneously from the Black 
Sea and Mediterranean, and ready to absorb Greece at her 
leisure. It need hardly be added that a game of this kind 

y 2 



324 



PUN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOE ; 



can be spoiled only by united Europe, as well as any sinister 
designs of Austria upon her immediate neighbours. Un- 
doubtedly, the surest way to checkmate both of these 
faithless despotisms would be to encourage the formation of 
one solid monarchy of all the Balkan nations under Prince 
Alexander, which would interpose an effectual barrier to 
aggression from both sides during a long vista of coming 
years. 

Eegarding Dede Agatch itself (Fig. 71), there is little to 
be said as yet, as there is nothing in the neighbourhood 
offering any attraction to the casual visitor. It is situated 
about nine miles to the north-west of the mouth of Lake 
Bori, and as the village stands on low and somewhat swampy 
land covered in places with thickets of valonia oak, the 
salubrity of the site is more than doubtful. Indeed, a 
Constantinople newspaper of the 20th August, 1885, stated 
that sickness was then spreading, particularly in the adjoin- 
ing village of Keuylu, where fever and croup were cutting 
off numbers of children daily. 

The work of loading the steamer, chiefly with Indian 
corn, having been several times interrupted by heavy rain, 
a delay of over three days occurred, and yet no one on 
board seemed to regret it. The circumstance enabled the 
amateur artists and writers of travels among our number 
to add somewhat to their rapidly accumulating stores of 
sketches and piles of manuscript. Among other subjects, we 
all tried our best to chain the pretty island of Thaso to the 
pages of our sketch-books ; but it was so distant that between 
the showers little could be made of it, even with the aid of 
a good glass. This is the most northerly of the isles in the 
iEgean Sea, and is described as having been exceedingly 
fruitful in classical times, but has since acquired a character 
of barrenness, although it still exports oil, honey, and 
timber. At one time its marble quarries and its mines of 
gold and silver ranked high, but these seem long ago to 
have been abandoned. 

On the evening of the 1st July the steamer, having 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



325 



taken in all the cargo there was to be had, left for Smyrna. 
Before dawn the following morning our artists were at 
work. The course sailed took us near the mysterious yet 
beautiful island of Mitylene, looking stern and grand in the 
early morning haze, before a single sunbeam had tipped its 
rugged glens with gold. Anon a bright orange began to 
irradiate the heavens, and to light up, seemingly for our 
especial benefit and enjoyment, the entrance to its noble 
harbour of Oliviri. This magnificent island was known in 
ancient times as Lesbos, and its capital city as Mitylene, so 
named after the daughter of Macareus, a former king ; and 
it has always been held in high repute for its fruitfulness. 
It was an ancient and long-enduring seat of learning, and, 
in company with Ehodes and Athens, produced and edu- 
cated many of the distinguished men of Greece and Kome. 
Among its great names were Pittacus, one of the seven wise 
men of Greece, who made the wholesome law that any fault 
committed by men while intoxicated should be doubly 
punished ; Alcaeus, a lyric poet and lover of Sappho ; 
Sappho, the chief poetess of antiquity ; Terpander, another 
lyric poet and musician of such skill that on one occasion 
he quenched a Spartan tumult by the tones of his lyre ; 
Theophanes, the historian, and others, all natives of this 
island. Presently the terribly volanic island of Khios, nearly 
opposite Mitylene, was added to our sketch-books. 

This unsteady rock is twenty-seven miles long by seven 
miles broad at the centre, and bulges out like a dumb-bell at 
both ends — to fifteen miles broad on the northern, and twelve 
miles at the southern extremity. It is composed chiefly of 
red marble, culminating in a giddy peak named Mount 
Elias, whose summit is 4157 feet above the sea. During the 
3rd April, 1881, this island was overtaken by an earth- 
quake, which destroyed nearly the entire town of Kastro, 
situated on its eastern side, and wrecked forty-five villages, 
amidst the debris of which four thousand persons perished, 
and large numbers were wounded or maimed for life. Never- 
theless, the recollection of the calamity speedily passed 



326 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 

away, and the island is again as well peopled, and seemingly 
as prosperous as formerly. Khios, sometimes written 
Chios, and as often Scio, is allowed to be one of the most 
beautiful islands of the whole Archipelago. It lies about 
seven miles off the coast of Asia Minor, at the entrance to 
the Gulf of Smyrna, and has no superior in the iEgean Sea 
for fertility and productiveness. Silk, figs, cheese, wool, 
gum-mastic, olives, citrons, and grapes are its principal 
products, and it possesses a good harbour. 




Fi«. 73.— Island of Khios. 



The two islands just named form the sentinels, as it were, 
of the Gulf of Smyrna, so that, after they have been left a 
short time behind, the tourist is not usually very long in 
reaching the principal port in Asia Minor. Accordingly, 
in the course of a few hours our steamer was again moored 
close to the quays of Smyrna, and the passengers who had 
friends ashore to see, or objects of interest still to visit, 
seized the opportunities offered during the next few days, 
ere the voyage home commenced. 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



327 



CHAPTER XXV. 

SMYRNA AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD. 

Allusion has already been made in Chapter XV. to some 
official statistics, published in the Smyrna papers of the 
9th May, 1885, by His Excellency Hussein Hilmi EfTendi, 
Secretaire General du Vilayet d'Aidin, relative to that part 
of Asia Minor in which its chief sea-port is situated. It 
there appeared that the population of Smyrna was then 
estimated at 52,196 Mussulmans, 71,083 Greeks, 4498 
Armenians, and 18,632 Jews, making together a total of 
146,409 persons ; so that the visitor to this important city, 
composed as it is of such varied human elements, will 
naturally expect many interesting sights within its limits, 
or in the immediate neighbourhood. Nor will he be dis- 
appointed, should the time at his command be parcelled 
out with economy and care, and the period of his visit 
prove not unfavourable to walking about. It is true that 
the handbill issued by the Cunard Company at Liverpool, 
promises him only a single day at Smyrna on the outward 
voyage, and presumably the same period on the steamer's 
return from Constantinople ; but in practice, several days, 
and sometimes more than a week, are really available. 
Such being the case, by a little careful management, the 
judicious choice of places to be visited, and taking local 
advice as to conveyances, the traveller may generally 
overtake a fair amount of work within the allotted span. 

Suppose his ambition does not prompt him to leave 
the city at once, like the enthusiastic antiquarian lady 
mentioned at the end of Chapter III., the initial obstacle 



328 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



met with consists in the difficulty and fatigue of getting 
through the streets, as all except the Marine Parade, Frank 
Street, and one or two others, are usually in want of repair, 
and are devoid of side paths. In a word — and after perusing 
some further remarks on the subject in Chapter XXVII. — 
the reader will see that the means at present available for 
getting over the ground in the streets of Smyrna are not 
efficient, and that sight-seeing there cannot be accomplished 
comfortably or with any degree of speed, so the tourist is 
driven to depend chiefly on his own natural power of loco- 
motion, and as a result he sees less of this great city within 
a given time than would satisfy him in any other important 
town in Europe. 

Fortunately for the traveller in such a badly-paved 
place, the objects likely to attract him are not numerous, 
as Smyrna is eminently commercial. There are the usual 
Mohammedan mosques and Greek churches, with here 
and there places of worship belonging to Protestants 
and Eoman Catholics ; there are handsome Government 
edifices, the Governor's palace, a barrack capable of housing 
ten thousand foot soldiers, besides cavalry and artillery, 
hospitals, schools, colleges, museums, bazaars ; places where 
dervishes (Fig. 74), good-looking and otherwise, twirl and 
dance ; and shops by thousands, the inspection of which 
will doubtless yield many visitors much pleasure ; but of the 
truly artistic and attractive sights characteristic of London, 
Paris, Edinburgh, and some of the old towns of Germany, 
Holland, and Spain, there are none. 

Suppose, on the other hand, that the tourist's aspirations 
soar away beyond the streets, and would lead him rather to 
investigate and scrutinise some of the grand old relics of 
the past amidst the mountains, his desires can be much 
more easily gratified. Perhaps it is Philadelphia of the 
Apocalypse he would like to see. He can do so by taking 
the early morning train per Smyrna and Cassaba Kailway, 
which reaches Alascheir, 105 miles distant, at 2.35. 
Devoting the afternoon to examining the ruins and making 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 329 
sketches, he may on the following morning, if a good 




Fig. 74. — Group of Dancing Dervishes. 



horseman, and not afraid of considerable fatigue, ride over 
to ancient Sardis, twenty-five miles distant, add to his 



330 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR; 



artistic spoils, return before nightfall, and possibly next 
day be back on board his steamer at Smyrna. 

It may be that a visit to weird Laodicea has taken 
possession of his imagination, and that to tramp over the 
wondrous ruins and slide down the marble terraces of 
Hierapolis form the summit of his ambition. In that case 
he will only require to patronise another line of railway, 
the station for which is easily reached by means of tramcars, 
which pass along the quays every few minutes from almost 
one extremity of Smyrna to the other. Getting into a 
carriage at the Point station on the Smyrna and Aidin 
Kail way at 6 . 40, he will likely reach the terminus, Seraikeuy, 
143J miles distant at 4.40 in the afternoon. At this 
place the obliging station-master will put the tourist in 
the way of procuring horses, a guide, and Turkish guard of 
soldiers — picturesque-looking fellows, like Figs. 46 and 
75, with plenty of weapons all over them — at a moderate 
outlay, who can be ready the following morning, when 
all that remains of the ancient and interesting cities 
of Hierapolis and Laodicea may be visited in the course 
of the day. Leaving next morning by the 7.10 train, 
the traveller will have an opportunity of inspecting the 
vast remains of the city and temples at Ephesus, by halting 
at the wayside station of Ayasouluk (Fig. 44) about 1 . 40, 
hiring a donkey and guide, and after spending several hours 
on and around the spot once occupied by the great Temple 
of Diana, may rejoin the afternoon down -train between 
four and five o'clock. Thus, within a week, the passing 
tourist has the opportunity of visiting the sites of five of the 
" Seven Churches in Asia," and adding materially to his art 
delineations, for the future enjoyment of his friends at home. 
The other two spots mentioned in the Apocalypse — Pergamos 
on the river Caycus, and Thyatira, near a tributary of 
the river Hermus — are not so accessible, and therefore need 
not now be further alluded to, except to say that, as both are 
inhabited, the traveller can make sure of temporary accommo- 
dation at those ruins, which he cannot at Sardis or Laodicea. 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



331 



It may so happen that neither of these more distant 
journeys can, on account of limited time, be safely under- 
taken. In that case there remain the pretty villages 
surrounding Smyrna, which may be visited. By means of 
the numerous little harbour steamers, short excursions can be 
made to either side of the bay — to Cordelio, where Richard 
Coeur de Lion spent some time about the year 1193 ; to 
the curious old Genoese castle, Sanjak Kalissi, which is 
supposed to protect the approach to Smyrna; to the hot 
springs near, known as Agamemnon's Baths (Fig. 11) ; to 
the most interesting industrial school for Turkish orphan 
boys at Karatasch ; and to many other beautiful spots 
attainable by water. Only a few miles inland by rail, 
horse, donkey, or carriage, are the charming health resorts 
of Boudjah, Bournabat, Koukloudjah (Fig. 41), Diana's 
Bath — a magnificent natural fountain of pure cold water, 
the basin of which covers about three and a half acres — and 
many other enticing and picturesque neighbourhoods, all 
possessing features of the greatest interest, and each well 
worthy of a visit. It would be impossible within the limits 
of a work of this kind to direct attention to even a moderate 
number of the objects of interest around Smyrna, which an 
energetic traveller may see and examine during the week 
or so he may spend in port on his way to or from Constan- 
tinople, yet a word or two concerning the last four named 
may not prove unwelcome. 

Boudjah is the only station on a subsidiary and pictur- 
esque single line of railway, branching off the main Aidin 
road at a village owning the pleasing name of Paradise, and 
is situated five and a half miles from the Smyrna terminus. 
This subsidiary line is wholly up hill, is one mile and 
a half in length from Paradise, is worked one way entirely 
by gravitation, and is the property of Mr. Purser, the 
manager of the main line between Smyrna and Seraikeuy. 
Apart from the curious serpentine curveture of the rails, 
necessitated by the steepness of the hill, the eye is interested 
shortly after starting, at the sight of an ancient aqueduct 



332 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR; 



crossing the valley towards the fortress of Smyrna. Two 
series of very perfect arches, one above the other, remain, 
and are evidently of the Byzantine period, like the castle ; 
but, unlike most similar works of antiquity, this one appears 
to have had no object or use, so far as has yet been ascer- 
tained. But whatever may have been its intention, it is at 
present a most picturesque object in the midst of a mountain 
panorama, at once beautiful and imposing. The village of 
Boudjah is prettily situated on a comparatively level 
mountain shoulder, and commands extensive views in 
various directions. Being high, it is favoured with plenty 
of pure and even cool air, which makes it a favourite resort 
for many of the Smyrna merchants. Indeed, the tempera- 
ture is so much lower at all times than that of the great 
city at its feet, that orange trees, which grow and fruit so 
magnificently in Smyrna, are there kept alive only with 
considerable care. But if the orange does not find in 
Boudjah a congenial climate, the Cyprus seems to revel in 
its rich soil and pure atmosphere, as nowhere are more 
splendid specimens of this grand yet gloomy tree likely to 
be seen. Where so many tall monarchs of the forest 
abound, there must exist a wealth of legends waiting to be 
gathered by any one with sufficient time and a fair know- 
ledge of the Greek and Turkish languages. In the case of 
the writer, two or three visits proved inadequate for this 
purpose, but the cursory examination of a built pit of 
profound depth full of water covered with a massive tangle 
of ruins, and known in the neighbourhood as "Jacob's 
Well," suggested a line of inquiry, which perhaps some 
other traveller or intelligent denizen of Boudjah may some 
day be in a position to satisfy. 

Bournabat, like Boudjah, is also the terminus of a short 
subsidiary line, branching from the Smyrna and Cassaba 
Railway. It lies in a different direction, and is the 
summer resort, as well as the only home, of numbers of the 
middle and upper classes, whose daily duties are connected 
with Smyrna. Although built on a slope some little height 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



333 



above, and within sight of the bay, Bonrnabat is not so 
airy as the last-named health resort, yet is in no way 
inferior in salubrity; and it possesses the advantages of 
good educational facilities for children, a larger selection 
of shops, a wider circle of society, and the greater safety 
against brigands and petty marauders, which a more 
numerous foreign community naturally confers. The 
population is considerable, and consists, in addition to the 
important European residents, of Greeks, Armenians, Turks, 
and Jews, all of whom seem to get on fairly well together, 
as the very small police and military forces kept in the 
town testifies. Indeed, the Turkish authorities throughout 
Asia Minor seem to interfere remarkably little with the 
domestic arrangements of the numerous nationalities con- 
gregated together under Mahommedan protection. Provided 
they keep the peace with one another, and give no offence 
to the dominant race, each tribe is allowed a much wider 
latitude in regard to the infliction of punishment within 
its own circle, than would be granted in Europe, as the 
following anecdote will show. 

It appears that the Jews of Smyrna have among themselves 
a strict law forbidding the use of tobacco to the young. 
One evening, while the writer was in Bournabat, three Jewish 
lads were indulging in a quiet whiff in the outskirts, when 
they were unexpectedly surprised with their cigarettes by a 
Kabbi. Two of the culprits were dextrous enough to conceal 
their weeds, and escape detection, but the third was caught 
with the article fragrantly smoking between his lips. He 
was unresistingly taken immediately to Smyrna, arraigned 
before the dignitaries of the synagogue, and condemned to 
the usual punishment, which, to our ideas, was out of all 
proportion to the alleged crime. The Kabbi opened the 
Talmud, and read the supposed warrant for the infliction 
which was to follow ; the young man, then stripped naked, 
was placed inside a stout bag, and was suspended from the 
ceiling a little way above the floor. As the Kabbi paused 
from time to time in his reading, an official armed with a 



334 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR; 



stout leather thong belaboured the unfortunate Israelite 
in the bag with all his might, and at intervals another 
attendant, bearing a huge lighted candle composed of some 
peculiarly offensive description of tallow, dropped some of 
the hot grease over the criminal. In this manner the young 
Jew was alternately strapped and basted until, in the opinion 
of the Rabbi, his crime had been purged away. As might be 
expected, this little drama was not conducted in silence, and 
the cries of agony and protestations of repentance were 
heard considerably beyond the walls of the torture-chamber, 
yet the Turkish officials declined to interfere. It was no 
affair of theirs, they said, and so the matter rested. 

Bournabat is so irregularly built, so pervaded with 
high walls and tortuous passages, that it is the simplest 
thing in the world for a stranger to get lost in its intri- 
cacies, and to wander about for hours towards sundown 
before recovering his whereabouts. This should render the 
little town a mine of wealth to the artist, as its crooked 
lanes, its tall cypresses, its abundant foliage of every kind, 
its densely-populated bazaars, its picturesque sepia-coloured 
shops, its frequent strings of loaded ass-led camels, and its 
amazing variety of costume, make up a series of ever- 
moving tableaux which can never be forgotten by any one 
who has witnessed the scene. Although not the focus of 
any great manufacturing industry, Bournabat presents at all 
times to the eye of the inquiring stranger a multitude of 
minor operations and trades being prosecuted in its streets. 
Cabinet-makers, tinsmiths, workers in brass and iron, are 
always busy ; not to mention the numerous class who 
minister to the food wants of the inhabitants, as well as 
those who supply drinks, refreshing and otherwise. Its 
spiritual requirements are not neglected while those of 
ordinary life are thus provided for, as there are churches 
belonging to the Episcopal, Roman Catholic, Greek, and 
Armenian forms of faith, all with their congregations of 
regular attenders. Probably, however, the chief claim to 
notice Bournabat at present offers consists in the circum- 



OH, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



335 



stance that it is the residence of a gentleman, a loyal 
British subject, who for more than thirty years, as noted 
elsewhere in these pages, has probed and combated the 
various baffling silkworm-diseases, and resuscitated a grand 
industry among the people which had long been practically 
defunct. It is to Mr. John Griffitt's sericultural factory 
that the future passing pilgrim to this little town will turn, 
in order to see with his own eyes how one of the most 
marvellous callings, as well as one of the oldest, is now 
conducted under the eye and finger of science. 

Within a forenoon's donkey ride of Bournabat are two 
pretty lakes hidden away among the mountains, one 
occupying rather higher ground than the other. The 
upper one is known as the Lake of Tantalus, and measures 
about a quarter of a mile in length by some two hundred 
and twenty yards in breadth. It is exceedingly deep, 
and full of fish, its overflow issuing in a natural manner 
into that below. There appears to be no speciality 
connected with this sheet of water, which could recommend 
it to even the most vivid imagination as the scene of the 
punishment of the son of Jupiter and Pluto, yet tradition 
points out this as the spot where the wretched Tantalus, up 
to the lips in water, could not assuage his thirst ; placed 
close to bunches of the most delicious fruit, yet might not 
taste; and although threatened to be crushed by a huge 
overhanging boulder, yet had no power to escape. Ap- 
parently to clench the truth of this story and its scene, 
tradition further indicates the situation of the tomb of 
Tantalus as being a little nearer Bournabat. The other 
lake is rather larger, but appears to have been left by the 
mycologists without a name, or even the ghost of a legend 
to throw a halo of interest over its ripples. Perhaps for 
this reason modern sympathy, but more likely a sense of 
utility, has led to its being converted into a reservoir for 
supplying Bournabat with water. 

Koukloudjah (Pig. 41) is a most picturesquely-situated 
village, nestling on the side of a hill rather nearer Smyrna 



336 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOB ; 



than either of the other two. Before Boudjah and Bour- 
nabat became so fashionable as they are now, Koukloudjah 
was the favourite resort in summer of the Smyrna European 
merchants, but during the Crimean war an event occurred 
which gave this truly beautiful spot a sinister name, and 
ruined it for a time as a place of leisure. A well-known 
Armenian gentleman of Bournabat was at that time court- 
ing a Greek lady of Koukloudjah. One day when visiting 
his sweetheart, having prolonged his leave-taking until 
rather late, he was pounced upon by a notorious brigand of 
the name of Catterdjee Janni, and carried off to the adjacent 
crags. There the unfortunate man was held to ransom, 
and only released after violent threats and the payment by 
his friends to the captor of the equivalent of £3000. It is 
true this ruffian was, many years afterwards, secured by the 
Turkish soldiery, and chained in a vault in Smyrna, where 
he still remains untried; but the money was never recovered, 
and for years the character of the place was entirely 
subverted. From this village the distant view is simply 
enchanting. In the immediate neighbourhood of the house 
from which the writer made a sketch, the land seemed 
entirely devoted to grape and olive culture ; a little further 
off the panorama of Smyrna from the old Byzantine castle 
to Point station was spread clearly out like a beautifully- 
illuminated lantern slide ; then came the rich blue waters of 
the bay, with pretty Cordelio resting on the further shore ; 
while the background was filled up by the islands and the 
mountains of the Anatolian Peninsula. Probably few 
fairer prospects could be obtained anywhere, and as for 
salubrity, although not far from a fever-stricken district, it 
has frequently proved a refuge for the Smyrna people from 
the ravages of cholera, when the great city was writhing in 
the grasp of that deadly disease. The beautiful, well- 
wooded plain, dotted all over with blood-red Judas trees, 
which the eye rests upon with such pleasure when the gaze 
is directed towards Bournabat, about seven miles off, 
although now divided among a number of proprietors, 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



337 



was once the sole property of Kiatib Oglu (son of the 
clerk, otherwise Clarkson), a former governor of Smyrna 
in the good old days, which many people foolishly regret. 
Oglu was a terrible tyrant, and, like the British Conserva- 
tive of the present time, had no sympathy with popular 
aspirations. In the course of his official career he managed 
to absorb the monopoly of exporting silver entirely to 
himself during 1816 and subsequent years, and in con- 
sequence became enormously rich. Unfortunately for him- 
self, his ostentatious style of living at length attracted 
the notice of envious Constantinople authorities. Plots 
were hatched against him, and he was finally strangled, the 
tragedy forming the subject of what is represented as being 
one of the finest of the modern Turkish ballads. 

The last of the four pretty spots alluded to at an earlier 
part of this chapter as worthy a visit from the tourist, is 
the Bath of Diana, near the village of Mersenliqui on the 
Smyrna and Cassaba Bailway. Leaving the railway car- 
riage at Mersenliqui, the tourist walks along the margin 
of a canal-like stream for about a mile, until the gate of a 
large establishment — burnt-down paper works — is reached. 
The stream is believed by some authorities to be the river 
Meles of Homer, formed by the overflow from the fountain 
within the enclosure.* At the gate sits a Turkish porter or 
guard, but there is no difficulty thrown in the way of 
strangers desiring admittance. The portion of the burnt- 
down works nearest the fountain has been of late repaired, 
and is now used as a flour-mill, which is driven by a 
powerful turbine wheel. To such a common purpose has 
this great relic of antiquity descended. The bath is an 
irregularly circular-shaped pond, covering about three and 
a half acres, but with portions concealed under a dense 
growth of tall reeds, and pure cold water bubbles up all 
over its area. It is surrounded with the remains of walls, 
fragments of arches, scraps of broken marble columns ; but, 
except in the middle, the water is shallow, although at 
* Vide footnote to p. 52, Chapter IV. ; also p. 215. 

Z 



338 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR; 



one place it is alleged to be fifty feet in depth. Over the 
bottom are strewn large blocks of squared stone, and a few 
prostrate marble pillars ; while, according to the miller's 
account of what he had seen from a boat, the central chasm 
shows the remains of a handsome pillastered terrace far 
under the surface. Some few years ago, when engineers 
were arranging the exit for the water for the adjoining 
mill-wheel, a magnificent life-sized marble statue of the 
goddess Diana was found in the mud ; hence the name by 
which the fountain is now known. This work of ancient 
art was of course promptly claimed by the authorities, and 
is at present in the Sultan's private museum at Constan- 
tinople. Latterly another statue of red terra-cotta, re- 
presenting Bacchus, had been found in a slightly-mutilated 
condition, which the Turks seem not to have considered 
valuable ; accordingly, it has been allowed to remain, and 
forms a comer decoration in one of the houses on the spot. 
To the inquiring stranger it will always seem curious that 
this remarkable natural fountain has not been utilised in 
some different manner by one or other of the wealthy 
Turks, Greeks, or Armenians, of whom there are many in 
Smyrna. What a noble ornament, for example, it would 
make in the policies connected with any residence ; and 
what treasures of art the possessor of an estate which 
included it, might find by temporarily draining off the 
water and setting a few labourers to dig. There is a reason, 
however, which hitherto has proved sufficiently deterrent — 
a reason which the practised eye sees in the wan looks, 
in the hollow eyes, and in the ghastly greenish-yellow com- 
plexions of nearly every one in any way employed at or 
near the place. It is a fever-haunted spot. Exhalations, 
doubtless, are constantly rising from the earth, particularly 
at night, which, breathed for even a short time, seem to 
wither up life and produce premature decay. This is why 
those magnificent fountains have sunk to such base uses, 
probably ever since Diana's temple, which once adorned 
the pool, was shattered by an earthquake. 

Keturning from the inspection of these four interesting 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



339 



places, the traveller may find that he has still time to see a 
little more of Smyrna ere his steamer sails, and to add to 
the notes in his diary. When it is recollected that this is 
one of the most ancient and at all times one of the most 
important cities of Asia Minor ; that it is the only one on 
the western coast which has held fast its name and repute 
for more than 2600 years ; that it has been possessed 
successively by iEolians, Ionians, Lydians, Macedonians, 
various masters during the Middle Ages, and Turks ; that it 
has continually progressed notwithstanding all its vicissi- 
tudes, and is at present more flourishing than ever — when 
all these circumstances are remembered and taken into 
consideration, the intelligent tourist may well be excused, 
if he spends his last few hours hunting up information on 
a subject which has employed distinguished pens out of 
every nationality in Europe. 

The tourist's time will now have become probably almost 
exhausted, yet he should endeavour to see, if possible, be- 
fore he bids adieu to Smyrna, a most interesting establish- 
ment called the Deaconesses Institution. It was commenced 
in the year 1852 by a Prussian lady named Mina Grosse, 
for the education of young girls, and boys under ten years 
of age. For her labours this amiable philanthropist re- 
ceived and wears a decoration sent her by the Emperor 
of Germany. There are one hundred and sixty children 
under her care, who are paid for by their parents, and forty 
little waifs, who are being brought up free. The establish- 
ment is large, handsome, and beautifully kept, the central 
garden, wholly surrounded by the buildings, being a 
picture of taste, variety, and semi-tropical beauty. The 
rooms and dormitories are spacious and commodious, and 
the children look like a laughing troup of robust fairies. 
So satisfied have the Smyrna people been with Miss Grosse 
during the thirty-three years that this boarding-school has 
existed, that many if not most of the ladies at present met 
in society, both European and Asiatics, as well as numbers 
of Turkish girls long ago secluded, have been educated there, 

z 2 



340 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



CHAPTER XXYI. 

BRIGANDAGE IN ASIA MINOE. 

From the day when "a certain man went down from 
Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves/' the world 
has never been without its covetous and cruel miscreants in 
every station of life, ready at all times to seize and appro- 
priate other people's property whenever the opportunity 
offered itself. It need hardly be said that this propensity is 
not the monopoly of any nation in particular ; and if the 
reader's attention is briefly asked in this chapter, while the 
page of crime is opened in Asia Minor, it is not with the 
object of exhibiting a blacker and longer calendar than 
elsewhere unfortunately exists, but rather with the view of 
showing what a dense and troublesome mass of accumulated 
evil modern Turkish rulers have had to deal with, and to 
bespeak a degree of charity in the judgment of events 
which have from time to time occurred under a system of 
government so entirely different from our own. 

We need not lift the veil of antiquity in order to get at 
the origin of brigandage in Turkey, for the nuisance seems 
to have existed with more or less intensity for ages, according 
to the spirit and determination of those in power at the 
time ; to the larger or smaller degree of prosperity of the 
peasantry at different periods ; to a condition of peace or 
war ; and to the honesty or cupidity of the pachas and 
inferior officers. There were, however, two notable events 
in modern Turkish history which, without being strictly 
responsible for the great increase of crime which occurred, 
certainly preceded serious and long-continued periods of 
brigandage. These events were the final suppression of the 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



341 



force of Janissaries by Sultan Makinoud II. in 1826, and the 
close of the Crimean war in 1856. When this monarch 
was placed upon the Ottoman throne by Mustapha Bairaktar, 
the chief of the Janissaries, in 1808, he succeeded to a 
kingdom suffering in every direction from discontent and 
all but active revolt ; but being a sultan of great energy, 
fierceness, and determination, he quickly brought about a 
change for the better, by curbing the pretensions and abuses 
of his pachas, and crushing out disloyalty, with the single 
exception of Mahomet Ali of Egypt, who became semi- 
independent. He likewise cleared the country of brigands, 
petty thieves, and foot-pads, introduced numerous European 
customs and improvements ; and, generally, commenced 
that difficult revolution of Moslem ideas it took so long to 
change, the good effects of which are seen everywhere in 
Turkey at the present date. It is not only possible, but 
certain, that, like many reformers before and since, his 
notions and actions proceeded from convictions in advance 
of his time ; and that, in aiming at the immediate suppression 
of ancient familiar usages and even abuses in every depart- 
ment of the government and its services, he unwittingly 
destroyed much that was martial among his countrymen, in 
an age when soldierly qualities Avere eminently necessary, 
without putting any other virtues in their place. During 
his reign the education of youth began to engage the serious 
attention of the government ; some of the refinements of 
modern civilisation, and the graces which impart the princi- 
pal charm to society, made a few converts among his younger 
subjects of the capital ; and the hitherto luxurious monopoly 
of the water-pipe and perfumed bath in not a few instances, 
succumbed before the healthy mesmerism of science and art. 
A fair start towards a platform of higher pursuits had thus 
been commenced and accepted among a small section of 
the metropolitan community ; nevertheless, all such changes 
were invariably frowned down by the bulk of the older Turks, 
who then, as now, resolutely opposed every innovation. 
While the Sultan Mahmoucl was thus endeavouring to 



342 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



elevate the taste of his people, the lurid eye of acquisitive- 
ness was upon him ; the Muscovite was hungering after his 
territory, and as the Turks had for some years been paying 
more attention to the arts of peace than war, after an un- 
successful struggle, were forced in 1812 to cede Bessarabia 
to Kussia. The temper of the fiery and progressive Sultan 
was not improved by this loss, so, casting about for a victim 
upon whom to visit his wrath, as despots are apt to do, he 
pounced upon Kigheb Pacha, Governor of Aleppo in Syria, 
who also had proved unsuccessful in a military expedition, 
and superseded him by a known enemy of the Janissaries, 
Tchapan Oglu (son of the shepherd). Being aware of the 
new governor's character, and the small esteem in which he 
regarded them, the chiefs of this domestic force privately 
conveyed over all their valuables to the Jews, Consuls, and 
Europeans then resident at Aleppo, to be kept for them 
until brighter days dawned. The Governor for a consider- 
able time not only evinced no hostility towards the 
Janissaries, but leaving the affairs of the town and province 
in the hands of his inferior officers, devoted himself to 
hunting and other private pursuits, in which the officers of 
the force were his frequent companions. In this way their 
fears were lulled, and they began to think that they had 
done the great man injustice by their suspicions. Shortly 
afterwards the Governor made a grand garden party, on the 
25th November, 1813, to which all the officers were invited, 
and during the festivities every one of them was assassi- 
nated. Next day the scoundrel Oglu claimed, but did not 
receive, all the property of his murdered guests. Some he 
gained possession of, but most of the persons who held the 
valuables, knowing that, as foreigners, they could not be 
compelled to disgorge, refused compliance to his demand. 
Years after the tragedy, when the families of the Janissaries 
returned to Aleppo, fully expecting the restitution of their 
property, they were met with evasions and denials, and to 
the eternal shame of the Jews, Consuls, and Europeans, with 
whom it was left in trust, it is said that with the exception 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



343 



of Salomon Alteras, an honest Jewish merchant, who 
delivered up everything that had been confided to his care, 
the rest basely repudiated their liability. 

Meanwhile Turkish affairs generally had been going from 
bad to worse, and before 1817 the three great provinces of 
Servia, Moldavia, and Wallachia were practically lost ; the 
Ionian Islands rebelled ; followed in 1820 by the commence- 
ment of the Greek revolt. 

Under these rapidly accumulating disasters it need hardly 
be wondered at, if the Sultan Mahmoud was in a less likely 
state of mind than ever to submit to the insolences of his 
Constantinople Janissaries, men ever ready to take advantage 
of outward troubles to commit deeds of violence. This 
turbulent body had already in the course of their history 
frequently conspired against the government of the period, 
and had assassinated several sultans, viziers, agas, and other 
high officers. On the present occasion, having opposed 
some of Mahmoud's measures of reform for the capital, the 
Saltan, determined to get rid by one stroke of the mutineers, 
aroused the zeal of his loyal troops by a display of Mahomet's 
flag. The Janissaries were suddenly attacked, driven into 
barracks, when the buildings and eight thousand men were 
destroyed by fire, fifteen thousand were immediately 
executed in the Hippodrome (Fig. 60) mowed down with 
whirlwinds of grape-shot, twenty thousand were banished 
from the capital, and on the 17th June, 1826, a firman was 
issued declaring the whole Janissary force for ever sup- 
pressed. Thus by one of the most ruthless massacres on 
record, the gendarmerie of Turkey, originally enrolled in 
the year 1330, was swept away. Latterly it had proved a 
constant menace to Constantinople and its rulers ; on the 
other hand, it appears to have been the opinion of European 
officials living on the spot, or within the dominions of the 
Sultan at the time, that the slaughter of the Janissaries 
destroyed the last shred of the charter of Ottoman liberties 
by removing the only check the country had against the 
arbitrary will of the Sovereign. 



344 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



After these disastrous and painful events, brigandage 
once more, and very rapidly, reared its hydra head, on 
account of the large accessions of disbanded soldiery it 
received from a force whose numbers, before the suppressive 
edict, amounted to about 400,000 men. Evidently then, 
notwithstanding his favourable beginning, Mahmoud II. 
scarcely deserves the title of having been a benefactor of his 
country ; and even had his successor in 1839 been of the 
same resolute and unscrupulous disposition as his father, he 
could hardly in the course of his reign have got rid of such 
a legacy of evil. 

Brigandage was in full operation everywhere when 
Abdul-Mijid, the eldest son of Mahmoud, became Sultan ; 
nevertheless, had he been at all as energetic in trying to 
crush out the curse of the country as he was enthusiastic in 
building marble palaces on the Bosphorus, much improve- 
ment might have been effected. He had fourteen years at 
his disposal, yet little or nothing appears to have been 
done ; consequently, when the Crimean struggle began in 
1853, it found the Turkish Empire overrun by thievish 
miscreants. In the first instance this war must have 
relieved the country for a time of numbers of the brigand 
fraternity ; but at its termination, in 1855, thousands of 
disbanded soldiery again took up the trade, and from that 
date to the present time no part of Turkey has for any 
lengthened period been without numerous bands of both 
native and Greek marauders. 

As regards the Smyrna district of Asia Minor, brigandage 
during the past fifty years has consisted mainly of two well- 
marked and distinct elements. The line of coast extending 
from Cape Mycale to the site of ancient Phocalo on the 
Gulf of Smyrna, suffered chiefly from Greek raiders, 
supplied in almost any number by the iEgean islands, and 
sea-board towns and villages of Thessaly and Greece ; while 
the territory extending between Ephesus and Aidin was 
haunted by mountaineers, principally Turks, from the 
Messogis range, and known as Ziebecs, dressed and armed 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



345 



in the style illustrated by Fig. 75. The difference between 
these two specimens of Oriental rascaldom consisted in the 




Fig. 75. — A Ziebec, Turkish Mountaineer. 

first being eminently crafty, quick in their movements — 
here one day, miles off next — and depending to a large 



346 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



extent for their seizures on the information conveyed by 
village or town confederates; whereas the second looked 
rather to open daring, cool courage, and the relentless 
tracking and pursuit of predetermined victims, for success. 




Fig. ?6.— Types of Turkish Irregular Forces. 



The Greek brigands were usually content to seize single 
persons of some little importance in the official or com- 
mercial community, for whose release considerable ransoms 
might be expected; while the Turkish robbers, like the 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



347 



old bushrangers of Australia, made attacks on villages 
and small towns in well-organised bands, and levied con- 
tributions at the scenes of their forays, or in default of satis- 
factory plunder marched off the unfortunate people to the 
hills. As a specimen of the Greek style of brigandage, the 
following occurrence, which happened a little over three 
years ago, may be quoted. Among the most successful of 
the peasant girls of that season, in rearing silkworms under 
Mr. John Griffitt's direction, was a fine young woman of 
nineteen, belonging to the little town of Nymphio, who fell 
a victim to brigands one afternoon. She, along with her 
father and some relatives, were gathering their vintage, 
when five of these miscreants suddenly appeared and bore 
off both father and daughter to the adjoining mountains. 
A ransom was named, and after much disputing was reduced 
to the equivalent of £30 of an immediate payment, and 
£270 on the completion of the grape harvest, or £300 in 
all. The father was then released in order that he might 
fetch the money, which he did. Unlike a desperate en- 
counter, which occurred near the same place a short time 
before, there was no tragedy. The girl escaped death, and 
even the discomfort often described by victims of being 
hurried about through wild crags and marshes night after 
night, as the band for security changed their camp, and 
with no other nourishment than an occasional crust of 
mouldy bread. In the present instance the brigands coolly 
and fearlessly remained with their fair captive at the 
bottom of the mountains until their bargain was so far 
implemented ; but it is quite well understood among the 
little foreign community of Smyrna that had the gold not 
been speedily forthcoming, this interesting young Greek 
maiden would have been ruthlessly murdered, and it seems 
to be equally well known that in most of such outrages 
official persons are more or less implicated. 

Another successful attempt at plunder is related in 
Chapter XXV., wherein an Armenian gentleman of Smyrna 
was picked up near the house of the lady who afterwards 



348 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



became his wife, by the brigand Catterdjee Janni, and was 
only released after a time on payment being made by his 
friends of £3000. 

Two years ago Ali Agha, a well-known Turkish gentleman 
of the town of Adabazar, was captured by brigands while 
spending a few days at his farm, a little distance off, and 
was compelled to pay £325 of a ransom. Many outrages of 
similar character to the foregoing, accompanied by the 
coarsest crime and murder, having been traced to a truculent 
robber known among the peasantry as Captain Andrea, he 
was at length captured, photographed along with one of his 
young hopefuls (Fig. 77), and is now, along with many 
other crime-stained wretches, chained in a vault in Smyrna, 
awaiting trial.* 

Sometimes the brigands work in pairs, one on foot 
and the other mounted, with the object of attacking 
waggoners or small caravans. A case of this kind occurred 
near the village of Saraikey in the centre of Asia Minor, 
towards the end of 1884, and was reported in the Constanti- 
nople journals. An Armenian business man, his assistant, 
and driver were plodding along the road from Cesarea in 
their waggon, when they were ordered by a foot and 
mounted brigand to surrender. The Armenian immediately 
replied by shooting the former with a charge of blank 
cartridge, which sent the scoundrel to earth. Seeing his 
companion fall, the mounted robber fired upon the traveller, 
and shattered his leg near the ankle, when his two servants, 
although also armed, submitted to the mounted bully. In 
the meantime the Armenian, desperately wounded as he was, 
crawled, to the nearest rock, and continued to defend himself. 
Getting behind one of the servants as a shield, the brigand 
advanced upon the brave merchant, who still defied him, and 
succeeded in again putting a bullet into his body, when his 
resistance ceased through agony and weakness. In this con- 

* Since the above was written, this miscreant appears to have escaped 
from custody, as a Renter's telegram, dated Smyrna, May 11, 1887, says : — 
" The notorious brigand chief named Andrea has been captured at 
Ephesen." 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 349 

dition the poor man was robbed of fifty-five Turkish, pounds ; 
his miserable curs of servants were deprived of the few 




Fig. 77.— Captain Andrea, a Greek Brigand, and his Lieutenant. 



piastres they had in their pockets, and some of their clothing; 
the horses of the waggon were taken ; and as the first robber 
shot had been more frightened than hurt, and had now 



350 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



regained his feet, the pair of scoundrels quickly made off. 
The wounded man was taken to the town of Yuzgat, about 
twenty miles distant, and attended to by a surgeon, who, 
however, pronounced the case hopeless. When safe, the 
cowardly servants stated that the mounted robber was 
named Buckukgee, a Turk, and son of Osman Bey, 
previously deceased, and that his brothers were beys of 
influence at that moment in Constantinople. 

Occasionally the brigands make seizures of merchandise 
on a large scale, the after-disposal of which it is impossible 
to understand how they can accomplish safely to them- 
selves, without the aid of unscrupulous associates some- 
where among the mercantile community. On the 16th 
August, 1884, a quantity of opium valued at £2500 
Turkish, or about £2200 sterling, was pounced upon near 
the town of Konialo while being conveyed to a Smyrna 
merchant; and daring thefts of various other kinds of 
produce on the way to market, by brigands, are reported 
too frequently to leave any doubt that the thieves of 
Asia Minor are not particular as to the nature of their 
plunder, so long as it can be readily and profitably got 
rid of. 

Sometimes, however, these pests of Turkey go through 
little performances which, without plunder for their object, 
it is difficult to attribute to any reasonable cause except 
petty revenge. Schoolboys, after being soundly caned for 
juvenile delinquencies, are casually heard to say what they 
will do to the master when they grow up. Perhaps a spirit 
of this kind actuated the following : — Near the town of 
Bitlis in Armenia is the village of Tchorad, where a school 
for boys with several masters is established. One day in 
August, 1884, a notorious Turkish brigand of the name of 
Osman, accompanied by his band, swarmed into the village, 
entered the school-house, and proceeded to administer, with 
complete impartiality, corporal chastisement to both the 
scholars and their teachers. Nothing was said, but the 
blows fell thick and fast amidst a mingled excited chorus 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



351 



of bass and treble. After the rod of correction had been 
applied sufficiently long in Osman's opinion, he turned out 
the whole of the occupants, locked the doors, and took 
away the keys in his pocket without the slightest attempt 
at theft or injury to the property. It is true that the 
Armenian patriarch immediately addressed a complaint 
to the Porte on the subject of the outrage, but the 
probability is that no redress will ever be obtained, 
although the brigands were all well known; and some 
of them doubtless appeared at the following village fete, 
dressed in the favourite Albanian costume, and looking as 
pure and innocent as the spotless material they on such 
occasions delight to wear (Fig. 78). 

But brigands, whether facetious or freakish, are even in 
Turkey frequently brought to account, and their career of 
crime abruptly terminated. A Turkish robber of the name 
of Mehemet Pehlivan and his band of thirteen cut-throats, 
who had long been the terror of the Cartal, Beicos, Chille, 
and Guebze districts, were suddenly captured about three 
years ago by the gendarmerie. Pehlivan was not in reality 
the chief, although occupying a position of command ; and 
one of his admirers said at the time that, although he had 
committed a murder or two, he was a most respectable 
brigand when compared with the others. The real leaders 
were two diabolical wretches, named respectively Ibish, and 
a Circassian, Isac. One of the complaints against these 
worthies was that they had tortured persons in several 
villages to make them deliver up their valuables, and then 
cut off their ears and noses. Even of this fiendish pair 
Isac appears to have been rather the worst, as he stole two 
Turkish girls from a village near Caramoussal, one of whom 
he sold in Constantinople, and when pursued is believed to 
have killed the other. Not one tenth of the crimes of these 
scoundrels is likely soon to be known, as they are said to 
be still at large, and the peasantry dare not give the 
slightest hint or information for fear of their vengeance. 
The fourteen robbers above mentioned were imprisoned, 



352 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



and may some clay be punished, on the other hand they 
may escape; meanwhile the two principal bandits with 




Fig. 78. — A Bkigand in Albanian Holiday Costume. 



fresh trains of merry men are probably at this moment 
engaged in the planning or execution of still greater 
crimes. 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



353 



The year 1883 is not likely to be quickly forgotten by 
the merchants of Smyrna, as the daring of the brigands 
in that neighbourhood reached a climax by a wholesale 
capture of members of their class. The two sets of 
bandits already particularised — Turkish and Greek — de- 
termining to make one grand and eminently profitable 
stroke, combined their forces, and waited near the little 
town of Kuluk for the arrival of one of the coasting 
steamers from Smyrna. A more likely opportunity could 
hardly have been chosen, for thirty well-known and 
important merchants and others were on board among 
the general passengers. The gentlemen landed wholly 
unsuspicious, were quietly surrounded by the brigands, 
and marched off to the hills, where they were detained 
until a ransom of £1800 was paid. Had these unfortunate 
merchants been Turkish subjects, the belief at the time 
was that nothing would have been done ; but being all 
foreigners with Consuls to appeal to, a battalion of soldiers 
was immediately despatched in pursuit of the brigands. 
The latter, being hard-pressed, ultimately surrendered on 
a promise of pardon and employment being given. Ac- 
cordingly, on the day arranged the two chiefs, Yurook 
Osman and Djirid Oglu, with their bands, took train to 
Smyrna, called on the Governor, delivered themselves and 
their arms over to his mercy, and were forthwith pardoned 
and enrolled in the gendarmerie. There was good faith on 
both sides, and the covenants were strictly observed. A 
patriarchal simplicity characterised the entire transaction, 
which must have proved eminently satisfactory to the 
thirty gentlemen whose £1800 the white-washed scoundrels 
had received, but never returned. Whatever became of the 
money the subscribers failed to see it again, but the ere- 
while blackguards were transmuted into a force of vigilant 
policemen, and presently received orders to hunt down 
other knaves and ruffians no worse than themselves. 

The novelty of the situation, with its regular pay, defined 
hours, and air of general respectability, appears to have 

2 a 



354 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



pleased the wolves in sheep's clothing for a time, and they 
behaved so well as quite to deceive the good Smyrna 
people, who now regarded them sans peur et sans reproche. 
When the turn of the new constables came round they were 
accordingly, in an evil hour, sent out to take share in the 
duty of guardians of the adjoining villages. This proved 
too much for their infant virtue. Once away from the 
critical eye of Smyrna, their old propensities returned 
with all the added force of nearly a year's abstinence from 
crime. In their brigand days they had unblushingly 
black-mailed the peasantry ; now, coming as protectors, they 
observed much the same formula behind the shelter of 
their uniform. The sums exacted were doubtless smaller, 
and no lives were sacrificed ; but, being always on the spot, 
the process came to be so unendurably frequent that com- 
plaints at length reached head-quarters, and the various 
detachments were ordered to Smyrna to answer for their 
misdeeds before the Governor and the Procurator-General, 
Teufik Bey. 

Once more, on the 27th December, the ruffians appeared 
at the konak, but before gaining admission to the presence 
of the Governor, were requested to leave their rifles outside, 
which they did, but secretly retained their loaded revolvers. 
The Governor received them quietly and without abuse, 
stated the charges which had been made against them, 
and dismissed them for a time, telling them that their 
case would be gone into next day. Glad to be let off so 
easily, they were jauntily descending the palace stairs, when 
Osman Pasha, the commander of the troops in Smyrna, 
arrested the whole gang. Their revolvers were instantly 
produced, shots were fired at the brave old soldier without 
effect, a general fight and flight of bullets resulted, during 
which five of the bandits were killed on the spot, several 
wounded, and all the rest captured and thrust into prison. 
Thus ended a futile experiment — an attempt, praiseworthy 
in itself, to change the colour of the Ethiopian — which is 
scarcely likely to be repeated. 



I OB, NOTES FROM TEE LEVANT. 



355 



Before completing this chapter, a little reference to two 
of the gentlemen whose names have just been mentioned, 
may prove interesting. 

General Osman Pasha is a gallant old soldier in command 
of the troops in and around Smyrna. He fought side by 
side with the British forces in the Crimea, being at that 
time a caj3tain in command of a Turkish company. One 
day when the writer, along with his friend Mr. Pasquali, 
a good Turkish scholar, called with an introduction, they 
found the old warrior deep in the study of French without 
a master. The general proved most gracious and kind, and 
in the course of conversation mentioned the names of many 
Scotch and English officers of distinction, with whom he 
had come into frequent contact in the Crimea, and whom he 
much admired during that protracted struggle. Keplying to 
his question of having ever been in the army, the writer 
said no ; but that he had had some years of pretty active 
experience in the Volunteers. " Ah ! " answered the veteran, 
" I thought I could not be mistaken ; there is something- 
military, I know not what it is, but it clings to a drilled man 
for life, and marks him out as having served his country ; 
let us shake hands again ! " He then exhibited his French 
manuscript exercise-book, filled with conjugations of various 
verbs and long lists of familiar phrases, written in a large 
schoolboy hand. After some further talk and consumption 
of the usual cigarettes and coffee, the general buttoned up 
his uniform, and accompanied us over the enormous pile of 
barracks, capable of comfortably housing ten thousand men, 
finishing with the kitchens and bakery, where we tasted 
the pelaff (boiled rice) and bread prepared for the soldiers. 
Like most men of mark and position, he evinced a reluct- 
ance to talk about his personal exploits, and we failed to 
get any further particulars regarding the fight with the 
brigands on the palace stairs already mentioned. 

Teufik Bey, although quite a young man, has had 
considerable legal experience, and is in charge of the 
Criminal Prosecuting Department of the Turkish Govern- 

2 a 2 



356 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



ment at Smyrna. Like Hussein Hilmi EtYendi, he was 
trained under the eye of Kemal Bey (both gentlemen 
already alluded to), and has profited to the utmost by his 
connection with the latter distinguished officer. The Pro- 
curator-General keeps at his office an album of brigands 
and other notorious villains, which is a remarkable volume 
to turn over ; and to the student of physiognomy must be 
fraught with melancholy interest. On the occasion of the 
writer's first visit to him at the konak, the former was cour- 
teously asked to choose any one of the specimens of rascal- 
dom displayed in the ponderous tome of criminal faces ; 
accordingly, that of Captain Andrea (Fig. 77) was selected. 

From the foregoing statements and examples of brig- 
andage in Turkey it will be inferred, and with perfect truth, 
that the evil has been and still remains a most serious con- 
sideration for all classes of the peaceful population both 
native and foreign, as well as for the Government. Doubt- 
less, wherever a firm, determined, and thoroughly honest and 
progressive viceroy appears, like His Excellency Hadji 
Nackid Pasha, late of Smyrna, now of Syria, and is sup- 
ported by the able and upright officers alluded to above 
and elsewhere in these pages, the locust-like swarms of 
banditti disappear. For a time the scoundrels still at large 
cease to give annoyance within the province or district 
while the iron heel is down ; but they are not reformed, 
they have simply removed to carry on their depredations 
elsewhere. Something else, then, is needed than an efficient 
and honest gendarmerie to cope effectually with the nui- 
sance. The evil should be dealt with at its source with a 
view to cure, seeing that forcible extirpation has evidently 
proved a failure ; and the writer's idea would lean towards 
improved laws, different methods of collecting taxation, and 
the immediate multiplication of roads and railways in 
various directions. Meddling with the statute-book of any 
country by a foreigner is at best a thankless task, so this 
item may be passed over with the simple remark that, so 
far as could be gathered from a four months' residence in 



OR, NOTES FROM TEE LEVANT. 



357 



the country, the laws appeared to press on different classes 
very unequally. As regards the other defects alluded to, 
they are patent to every eye. The farming of the taxes is 
utterly wrong in principle, is damaging to the honesty of 
the collectors, is detrimental to the population, and must 
prove a serious loss to the Government ; while the absence 
of roads and railways hinders the development of the 
country's magnificent resources, dwarfs and keeps at a 
minimum existing trade of every kind, deters foreign 
capitalists from investing, offers the premium of ready 
escape to all marauders, and places an effectual barrier in 
the way of their pursuit. The great vilayet of Aidin, of 
which Smyrna is the chief town and port, has a popula- 
tion of about one and a half millions, distributed over more 
than two thousand five hundred villages and towns ; yet, ac- 
cording to official records, only ninety-three miles of roads 
have been made during the past two years. The territory 
is certainly traversed by two considerable streams — the 
Mseander, with a course of oue hundred and eighty-six 
miles, and the Hermus, one hundred and forty-four miles in 
length ; but neither is navigable, except, perhaps, for very 
short distances in winter and spring, so that, practically, all 
inland communicatiou and the conveyance of merchandise 
must be conducted by beasts of burden and by two lines 
of railway, whose united stretch is only two hundred and 
forty-eight and a half miles. It would be difficult indeed 
for any country, with even greatly improved means of 
travelling, but otherwise, under similar political conditions 
to those of Turkey at this present moment, to shake off all 
at once the formidable curse of brigandage, which has been 
the inheritance of ages. Nevertheless, the task, however 
difficult, must be confronted and the evil crushed, as well 
as the causes of it, if Turkey expects to continue in the 
position she has long occupied among the civilised nations 
of the world. 



358 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



CHAPTER XXVIL* 

THE SITES OF THE APOCALYPTIC CHURCHES. 

To many people it has long been a matter of surprise 
that, while the Holy Land, which is further away from our 
shores, has been so frequently described by travellers, its 
scenery depicted by artists, and its flora, fauna, and geology 
again and again explained by the learned in such matters, 
Asia Minor should have hitherto been so comparatively 
neglected. Books without end have been written about 
every corner of Palestine, Egypt, and Arabia, alluded to in 
Scripture, while the modern range of literature connected 
with that singularly interesting part of Lesser Asia, in which 
the Apocalyptic Churches were planted, packs into such 
small compass that the volumes may readily be enumerated 
on one's fingers. The first English traveller to visit the 
sites was Thomas Smith,f an Oxford graduate, who in 1676 
published a little work in Latin, which was afterwards 
rendered into English. The eighteenth century passed 
without yielding any important additions to our knowledge 
of the subject, except Chandler's most valuable ' Researches,' 
published about 1767, and Pocock's ' Travels ' ; and the only 
book of the present era devoted to the Seven Churches was 

* This chapter was originally prepared as an essay, a portion of which 
was read by the author before " The Dunblane Temperance Union," 
Dunblane, Perthshire, on the 29th March. The whole afterwards ap- 
peared in the columns of the Stirling Observer, of the 8th April, 19th 
and 26th of August, 1886. 

f Thomas Smith, B.A., was a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford ; his 
book was entitled ' Septem-Asia Ecclesiarum Notita,' and it seems to 
have excited much interest among the scholars of Charles II. period. 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



359 



that published in 1828 by the Kev. Mr. Arundell, chaplain 
to the Smyrna Consulate. This work was followed in 1839 
by a journal by Fellows, and an important illustrated book 
by the French author Texier, both considered good text- 
books for Asia Minor generally. Still later, in 1842, came 
the ' Asiatic Travels ' of Leake and Hamilton, followed in 
1862 by Bellew's * Essays/ and the other day by Dr. Somer- 
ville's 6 Home Letters ' from Smyrna. These, so far as I 
have been able to ascertain, without reference to the British 
Museum Library, comprise within their covers all the mo- 
dern printed information we possess. The subject, there- 
fore, of the following few observations is one which — 
apart from its Scriptural interest — offers to some extent 
the charm of novelty, even in these days, when scarcely a 
corner of the earth has escaped the frequent visitation of 
the traveller. Without further preface, then, I shall ask the 
reader to suppose, that we have taken a railway train from 
Smyrna ; that we have left the carriages at the station of 
Ayasouluk,* forty-eight miles along the line ; that we are all 
mounted on donkeys, and are trotting merrily over the mile 
or so of ground which intervenes between the railway and 
the ruins of Ephesus. 

Ephesus (1). 

The great city of Ephesus will ever be associated in the 
minds of all civilised people with the temporary residence 
of St. Paul, who dated his first Epistle to the Corinthians 
from thence, during the fifty-seventh year after the birth of 
Christ. It was the capital of Lesser Asia, as Smyrna is at 
this moment, and was one of the most magnificent cities 
of antiquity, abounding, as it did, with all the splendour 
that Oriental, corrected by Creek, taste could collect ; all the 

* This village had "been previously named by the Greeks, Hagios 
Thologus, as being, according to legend, the final resting-place of St. John 
the Evangelist, or, as they designated him, " The Theologian." The 
Turks, however, cannot pronounce properly any word in which the 
letters " th " occur, so gradually the Greek name got corrupted into Ios 
Tologos, and finally became Ayasouluk, as at present. 



360 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



wealth that an extended commerce could command ; and 
all the prestige accumulated during the growth of culture 
of its own and previons ages. The city stood on both banks 
of the river Cayster, close to the G-ulf of Samos, upon a 
beautiful plain, measuring five miles one way by three miles 
the other ; and, with the exceptions of the hill Prion — which 
furnished the marble used in its construction — most of the 
remaining area is supposed to have been at one time covered 
with handsome buildings. The river flowed diagonally 
across and through among this pile of palaces, entering the 
great harbour of Panormus at its south-west corner, where, 
during, but more particularly before, the days of the apostle's 
visit, the ships of all nations came to trade. Yet grand 
and imposing as this great, white, glittering city, with its 
fine port full of vessels, must have seemed to the visitor 
approaching from the sea, there was one magnificent object 
more gorgeous and majestic than the rest, which attracted 
and chained the eye to the exclusion of every other, the 
second great temple of Diana — the last of seven successive 
buildings supposed to have occupied the same spot. This 
vast fane was not only the most conspicuous object in the 
city, but on account of its size, splendour, artistic com- 
pleteness, and lavish display of wealth, was reckoned one of 
the seven wonders of the world. It covered more than 
four times the area of the grand temple of Minerva the 
Parthenon at Athens, or nearly twice the space occupied by 
St. Paul's in London ; and strange to say, notwithstanding 
its bulk and enormous weight, was built in a marsh upon a 
foundation consisting of charcoal and the fleeces of sheep 
rammed tightly together — the object being to defeat the 
action of earthquakes, which in that region had from 
earliest times been more or less frequent. Several suc- 
cessive architects were employed on the structure, which 
was commenced 541 years before the Christian era. When 
finished, its outside dimensions were 425 feet by 220 
feet ; the building was surrounded by 120 solid marble 
columns, each 60 feet high, and each the gift of a king ; 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



361 



the inner shrine rested upon beautiful and massive pillars 
of green jasper, eight of which now support some of the 
interior arches of the mosque of St. Sophia at Constan- 
tinople ; its sculptured and painted decorations, executed 
by the most distinguished artists of those days — among 
whom was Timarete, the first lady painter on record — were 
of the richest kind. All the Greek cities in Asia Minor 
contributed their offerings towards the cost during the 
220 years the temple took to build ; and, when at length it 
stood on the summit of an immense flight of marble steps, 
towering up majestically against a background of dark crags, 
the Ephesians might well have been excused if they were 
apt at times to display a noisy enthusiasm when they gazed 
upon their superb temple, and knew that there was nothing 
to match it in the world. 

I have mentioned Mount Prion as the quarry out of which 
both the city of Ephesus and the temple of Diana were 
built. There is a legend regarding the discovery of the 
marble rock, which is amusing. A shepherd, in charge of a 
flock of sheep on the slopes of the hill, was one day watching 
a fierce encounter between two rams. One of the animals, 
in charging its antagonist, missed its stroke, and running 
against a moss-covered shoulder of the declivity with its 
horns, splintered off a film of stone, exposing to view a 
surface of the purest white marble. The shepherd picked 
up a fragment, ran with it into the older town over which 
Ephesus was afterwards built, and the inhabitants received 
the discovery with unbounded joy, immediately changing his 
name from Pixodorus to Evangelus (the good messenger). 
On the death of the fortunate shepherd, he was raised to 
the rank of a saint, and it was enacted by the Ephesians 
that their chief magistrate in all time coming should, 
under a heavy penalty for neglect, repair to the scene of 
the discovery once every month, and offer sacrifice to 
St. Evangelus ; a rite which history states was faithfully 
observed up to the age of Augustus Csesar. 

To the Biblical student Mount Prion ought to be addi- 



362 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



tionally interesting, as having been, according to tradition, 
the last resting-place of Timothy, the companion of St. Paul, 
and as the scene of the interment of the mother of our Lord. 
Here, also, the legendary finger indicates the sepulchre of 
St. John the Evangelist ; but in this case it is more than 
likely that the tomb of the shepherd has been made to do 
double duty. That the side of the hill has doubtless often 
been used for the purpose of sepulture is evident from the 
numerous little cavities still to be seen, like the mouths of 
bakers' ovens, into which the dead might be thrust head or 
feet foremost. The marble quarries seem to have been 
worked chiefly in the interior of the hill, which is honey- 
combed into numerous vast, dripping caverns, with every- 
where chips of white marble, bearing tool marks, lying about. 

Inferior in splendour to the temple, perhaps, although to 
the intelligent visitor even more replete with interest, are 
the remains of the great theatre and stadium. The former 
was the largest of the kind ever erected by Greek archi- 
tects, and was pronounced capable of accommodating 50,000 
spectators. It was cut out of one side of Mount Prion, its 
exterior diameter was 660 feet, and scholars are of opinion 
that this was the scene of one of St. Paul's most perilous 
experiences. Lying, as the theatre did, to the south of the 
temple of Diana, the two buildings were at one time con- 
nected by means of a broad handsome street which passed 
quite through Ephesus ; while midway between the temple 
and the city wall, under the northern base of Mount Prion, 
stood the circus or stadium. This was an immense enclosure, 
685 feet in length by 200 feet in breadth, where all foot- 
races, charioteering, wrestling, pugilistic encounters, beast 
fights, gladiatorial combats, life-and-death struggles between 
condemned criminals and condemned yet innocent Christians, 
took place. In this vast arena St. Paul had been an actor 
when he fought with beasts at Ephesus. 

A city of such magnitude, resources, population, and 
splendour, could hardly fail, in those early days of the 
world's history, becoming the focus, not only of much that 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



363 



was desirable and instructive, but also of a great deal 
that was vile. Accordingly, although it attracted the art 
and learning of the ancient world, it also became the haunt 
of rascals, thieves, and mountebanks of every kind. In the 
apostle's time Ephesus was the chief seat in Asia Minor 
of what was afterwards called the " black art," or magic ; 
mysterious emblems, named " Ephesian letters," were cut or 
stamped upon the feet, zone, and on the coronet of the 
hideous block of wood worshipped as the goddess Diana or 
Artemis ; numberless books of incantations and directions for 
necromancy had been published by its professors, and were 
in circulation ; May was the month during which immense 
crowds gathered from all Asia to celebrate the pagan 
festivals and games ; and as the inhabitants had long been 
familiar with and believed in the pretensions and tricks of 
the priests, sorcerers, wizards, and dealers in charms or idols, 
like Alexander the coppersmith, they must have at first 
been extremely disinclined to listen to St. Paul's teaching. 
Nevertheless, that a strong and flourishing church had been 
planted there, is evident from the language of Scripture ;* 
but surrounded as it was with the abominations of paganism, 
it seems eventually to have deserved the reproach, " thou 
hast left thy first love." It was threatened ; it may never 
have repented ; at all events it was swept away with the 
ruin which overtook the great city. The magnificent 
temple was plundered of its fabulous wealth by the Eoman 
Emperor Nero ; it was afterwards burnt by the Gloths ; and 
finally all that remained of both city and temple was en- 
tirely destroyed a.d. 381, during the reign of Theodosius L 
At present not a trace of the once noble structure, except 
broken fragments and the foundations, remains, and even 
these had been lost for centuries, until unearthed by Mr. 
Woods, an architect of Smyrna, between 1873 and 1877, 
partly under the auspices of the British Government. 

Even had Ephesus and its majestic temple escaped the 
spoliating hand and torch of enemies, the probability is 

* Revelation ii. 1-7. 



364 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



that natural causes would have eventually accomplished the 
ruin of the city, through the disorganisation of its trade. 
During St. Paul's visit the grandeur of the great capital was 
beginning to decay in consequence of the gradual filling 
up of the harbour with the mud and sand brought down 
annually at the flooding of the Cayster, after the melting of 
the winter's snows. It is an ominous fact, too, that exactly 
the same process is going on at Smyrna, where the river 
Hermus is rapidly throwing an immense sandbank across 
the entrance into the beautiful bay. Any other European 
Power, except Turkey, would have long ago taken the most 
drastic engineering measures to arrest such a ruinous result. 
From calculations recently made on account of the foreign 
community there, it appears that, at the present rate of 
progress, the Bay of Smyrna in less than fifty years, should 
no effective steps meanwhile be taken, will have become 
a lake, after which it will degenerate into an unhealthy 
swamp like Ephesus, when it will necessarily be abandoned 
simultaneously by trade and population. 



Smyena (2). 

From the earliest historical times, Smyrna appears to have 
been a place of importance ; but its actual beginning, as 
well as its founder, are shrouded in mystery. The honour 
has been ascribed by some writers to Tantalus, a king of 
Lydia, and son of Jupiter and Pluto ; tradition favours an 
Amazonian origin, and indicates that a shrewd lady of 
Ephesus, anticipating the extinction of her native city 
through the cause just alluded to, led a party forth to found 
a colony to which she gave her own name — Smyrne ; other 
authorities give the credit to the iEolians; while a few 
consider that the great city arose out of the efforts of a 
party of Ionian colonists. Such inquiries are of little im- 
portance to us ; it is probably sufficient to know that its 
name has never altered ; that it was rebuilt 400 years after 
having been demolished by the Lydians, that it rapidly, 



OR, N0TE8 FROM THE LEVANT. 



365 



thereafter, became the greatest city of the Ionian Con- 
federacy, notwithstanding the frequent punishment it re- 
ceived in those early times from earthquakes and war ; and 
that it is at the present moment more nourishing than at any 
former period, being one of the chief seats of commerce in 
the East. About the year 120 of the present era, Smyrna 
suffered terribly from a volcanic convulsion, but it was 
subsequently repaired by Marcus Aurelius. Since then, 
although often visited with earthquake shocks or tremors, 
which have always inflicted more or less damage, the city 
has never again been materially injured. Unfortunately, 
the same thing cannot be said for its immediate neighbour- 
hood. In October, 1883, a series of earthquakes occurred 
in the Anatolian Peninsula, which wrecked all the villages 
between Chemeh and Vourla — the latter a little town only 
a few miles from Smyrna — by which more than one 
thousand persons lost their lives. Still later there was a 
similar catastrophe, which affected a circuit of two hundred 
miles, and twenty thousand terrified people were driven from 
their tottering houses during the winter snows. Amidst 
all this calamity an event of the most ludicrous nature 
happened, showing at once the credulous disposition of the 
people and the condition of fear under which they were 
labouring. On Monday, 22nd October, 1883, when large 
numbers of the Smyrna workmen were engaged in the 
streets and yards adjoining the harbour, packing the raisin 
and fig harvest for exportation, one of those eccentric beings, 
called a dancing dervish (Fig. 74), came twirling and spinning 
through the town, loudly proclaiming the approach of more 
earthquakes, and that the end of the world was at hand. 
Having spoken his mind, accompanied with many a forcible 
Turkish and Greek expletive, he continued his pirouetting, 
and spun himself away by the nearest route out into the 
country. The result was electrical. Work was immediately 
abandoned, as, according to the terrified exclamations of 
dread which arose on every side, " What was the use of 
further slaving, if the end of all things was near ? " One 



366 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



employer of some six hundred fruit-packers had accordingly 
the mortification of beholding the instantaneous stampede 
of his entire staff at the words, " Sauve qui peut " (save him- 
self who can), yelled by one of their number. Speedily 
almost the whole working population of that portion of the 
city, emulating the performance of the "Pied Piper of 
Hamelin" and his little victims, was seen rushing after the 
dervish away to the mountains. 

To the student of Christian history, Smyrna offers some- 
thing peculiarly interesting in the circumstance that its first 
bishop, the good and noble Poly carp, the friend and contem- 
porary of St. John, is with good reason believed to have been 
the "Angel" addressed in Eevelation ii. 8 to 11. This 
most worthy old Christian was martyred by fire a.d. 168, 
during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, in the stadium, a 
little way below the ruins of the Byzantine Castle, which 
crown Mount Pagus ; and a pillar upon the slope of the hill 
overlooking Smyrna harbour is pointed out as the spot where 
the ashes of Polycarp were buried. It was of this venerable 
ornament of the early church that the anecdote is told,* 
when the Koman Proconsul, anxious to save the old saint 
from the terrible death that awaited him, urged a denial of 
Christ in the words — " Swear by the Gods, and I will release 
thee ;" Polycarp replied, " Eighty-and-six years have I 
served Christ, and he hath never wronged me ; how can I 
blaspheme my King who has saved me ? " 

But Polycarp, although he lost his life for his staunch 
adherence to Christianity, was not the only sufferer who 
could point the finger of reproach at Smyrna, and say — " I 
also suffered there." In recent times, and to a very small 
extent, one of Scotland's distinguished preachers on one 
occasion, like the traveller in the neighbourhood of Jericho, 
fell among thieves. The Rev. Dr. Norman Macleod. gave 
the following experience in Good Words in 1866 : — " The 
sail up the Gulf of Smyrna is one of the most beautiful in 

* Vide Archbishop Wake's translation in his ' Epistles of the 
Apostolic Fathers '; also Milner's ' Church History.' 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



367 



the world. ... A boat intercepted us on landing, in which 
were two robbers calling themselves Custom-house officers, 
who demanded backsheesh, and, I am sorry to say, got it, in 
order to refrain from examining our luggage, in which there 
was no contraband. We had to repeat the dose on land- 
ing ; but when the same trick was attempted on departure, 
we had a long dispute, in which we carried the day, by 
permitting the robbers to open every package, refusing, to 
their bitter anger, to give them another farthing." 

When in Smyrna two years ago, I made inquiry about thi s 
little episode, and was told that the Turks are most par- 
ticular in opening every package landed from India, from 
which country Dr. Macleod had just arrived, and that the 
genial clergyman's little mistake lay in giving backsheesh 
beforehand. By so doing, he simply whetted an appetite 
for piastres in the other officials standing around. Fortun- 
ately, the reverend gentleman's sufferings could hardly be 
called a matrydom ; they were of brief duration, and only 
touched his pocket. 

Smyrna at present contains a population of about 146,409 
persons — consisting of 52,196 Mussulmans, 71,083 Greeks, 
4498 Armenians, and 18,632 Jews. This estimate does 
not include a considerable sprinkling of British, French, 
Germans, and a few Americans, who, although numerically 
unimportant, are extensively engaged in business. The 
aspect of the chief streets is of the liveliest description, 
although, these being narrow, a limited number of people 
scrambling along, and mixed with horses, donkeys, camels, 
bullocks, and carriages, make a greater show than on the 
broader thoroughfares of this country. So long as the 
visitor confines his walks to the quays, and to one or two of 
the recently-paved avenues, his expressions of approval will 
be profuse ; but let him wander into any of the adjoining 
lanes or less important passages, and his laudation will 
immediately change to anathema. He may, in order to 
avoid sprained ankles, get into a carriage, of which there 
are many for hire at reasonable rates ; but it will be sur- 



368 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



prising if at the end of ten minutes he does not express a 
vehement wish to get out, in order to avoid dislocation to 
every bone in his body through the reckless bumping over 
yawning chasms he perpetually receives, and the violent 
oscillation he is forced to endure. Before he is quite 
reduced to pulp, or resolved into his original state of proto- 
plasm, in a stentorian voice he commands the driver to stop, 
and abandoning the vehicle probably mounts a horse, or 
even a lowly ass, both of which can also readily be obtained 
for hire. Now he smiles with satisfaction, and imagines 
that he has overcome the difficulty. Vain hope ! Bounding 
the next street corner, he is confronted by a long string of 
stately camels loaded with, green fodder ; with great bags of 
charcoal, the spikes of which stick out in every direction ; 
with bales of cotton, carpets, or bundles of brushwood for 
burning. The way is narrow,, the loads of the camels reach 
almost from side to side, and there appears to be no room 
to pass. Should the mounted stranger keep on advancing 
he feels that he will probably be brushed off his saddle into 
the filthy central gutter; if he retains his seat, the thought 
occurs, how is he to protect his fine linen and white attire 
against contact with the spiky charcoal? The problem 
is too difficult for solution ; accordingly, he chooses the 
only apparent alternative — he ignominiously turns tail and 
levants the way he came. It will be acknowledged, then, 
that getting through Smyrna either on foot, on wheels, or 
on the back of an animal, is attended with disadvantages ; 
accordingly, as there is not a great deal to see in the town, 
the visitor will be well advised to put a few necessary 
articles in his bag, get on board a steamer in the early 
morning, and steer for Pergamos. 



Pekgamos (3). 

Pergamos, although only 64 miles north-north- west of 
Smyrna, is somewhat tedious to reach. It is situated upon 
the mainland of Asia Minor, behind the large island of 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



369 



Lesbos, nearly due west from the town of Mitylene ; it is fully 
20 miles from the sea, but not far from the considerable river 
Caycus, which flows into the Gulf of Sanderli. There being as 
yet no railway communication in that direction, the traveller 
desirous of reaching Pergamos in the easiest manner requires 
to take a steamer as far as the junction of the twin streams 
Selinus and Cetius with the Caycus, then ride or walk the 
remaining few miles, or get into a smaller boat, and thus 
reach the town, which contains about 15,000 inhabitants. 

The origin of Pergamos, like that of many other Greek 
cities, is uncertain, being mixed up so curiously with the 
mythological element ; the first historical mention made 
of it upon which we can rely is that of Zenophon in his 
' Anabasis.' From this author we learn that Lysimachus, 
one of Alexander's generals, observing features of natural 
strength about it, made choice of the spot for a fortified 
citadel in which to secure his wealth. His treasurer, Phila- 
tserus, afterwards revolted, and founded the independent 
kingdom of Pergamos in the year 280 B.C., which endured 
for 150 years, when it was bequeathed by the third Attalus, 
in one of the shortest wills on record ("Populus Bomanus 
bonorum meorum hoeres esto"), to the Eomans, who duly 
accepted the legacy. From that date its decay began, and 
when under the Byzantine kings, the seat of rule over the 
neighbouring provinces was removed to Ephesus, its decline 
was rapid. 

During the reign of Eumenes II., from B.C. 197 to 159, 
Pergamos was in the height of its glory and greatness, 
which must have been considerable to have led to the 
accumulation in such early times of a library of 200,000 
volumes — second only in extent to that of Alexandria, 
which it afterwards in part for a time replaced. Out of 
the requirements of this important literary collection arose 
the valuable discovery of prepared sheep-skin for writing 
upon, the ancient name for which, eharta pergamenta, was 
afterwards modified into " parchment." The story is worth 
repeating. It appears that the army of copying clerks 



370 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



employed to transcribe manuscripts for other libraries, had 
on one occasion exhausted all the writing material in the 
neighbourhood ; consequently, a somewhat extensive order 
for papyrus had to be transmitted to Egypt. Then, as now, 
there were some narrow-minded people in the land of the 
Pharaohs, as there are among ourselves, who grudged every 
evidence of prosperity outside of their own circles; and 
being loud talkers, their fallacies imposed upon the public 
mind. These foolish persons were encouraged by an equally 
foolish, jealous, and vindictive king. Ptolemy had, from the 
first, heard of the commencement of the library at Pergamos 
with the utmost displeasure, thinking it might soon rival 
his own at Alexandria, so was in no mood to aid its exten- 
sion or usefulness in any way. Accordingly, he calculated 
that, were he to stop the supply of papyrus, the obnoxious 
scribes and book-makers of Mysia would speedily become 
dispersed through having nothing to do. A royal edict was 
therefore issued, and the exportation of the writing material 
of the period ceased. When we look back through the 
changeful vista of more than 2000 years at this silly and 
spiteful transaction, and recollect how in modern times a less 
important matter has sometimes led to sanguinary struggles 
between nations, we cannot but admire the conduct of King 
Eumenes on this occasion. In the dilemma, instead of 
going to war with Ptolemy, the king of Pergamos stimu- 
lated the inventive faculties of his own subjects to find a 
substitute for papyrus. Ere long the industrious tanners 
of the Selinus, who for ages had been scraping and pre- 
paring sheep-skins for leather, bethought them of scraping 
the material a little thinner, and currying it with a little 
more care, when a substance was produced which more than 
satisfied every requirement, and the rancorous Egyptian 
monarch was completely defeated. Thus was first brought 
into use the best and most durable material for carrying the 
records of humanity into unborn ages — parchment, which at 
the end of more than twenty centuries is still practically 
without a rival. 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



371 



As was to be expected, this discovery greatly and quickly 
increased the importance of Pergarnos, and attracted to it 
a large share of the learning and wealth of Lesser Asia and 
other countries. It soon became an Eastern Athens, and, 
following the heathen custom of the period of selecting a 
particular object for worship, adopted iEsculapius, the father 
of the medical profession, the remains of whose shrine are 
still pointed out beyond the present city walls. 

Probably on account of its somewhat remote situation 
from any line of commerce, the truly magnificent ruins of 
Pergarnos have suffered less from foreign spoliation than 
those of the other Apocalyptic churches. They embrace 
specimens of both Greek and Eoman architecture; the 
former belonging, according to experts, chiefly to the periods 
of the reigns of Attalus and Eumenes (241 to 132 B.C. ) ; 
and the latter to the two or three centuries succeeding the 
opening of the Christian era. There is one conspicuous ruin, 
usually named the Basilica, which has puzzled every authority 
who has attempted to explain its probable use. It has 
been called the church of St. John, but examination proves 
it to have been erected long prior to Christian times; 
it has been pronounced a town-hall, a treasury, a special 
government building for the safe keeping of national re- 
cords ; and some critics have even imagined they detected 
in its massive walls, circular towers and other features, the 
veritable library-rooms of Eumenes II. ; but no conjecture 
has yet proved satisfactory. All that can be said is that the 
relics are those of a majestic ruin of brick, granite, and 
marble, interspersed with the prostrate remains of beauti- 
fully-carved Corinthian columns ; the whole towering above 
the pretty limpid Selinus, in the midst of as fertile and 
lovely a valley as one could wish to see. 

Before finally quitting this disputed matter, it may not 
be out of place to remark in reference to the Pergarnos 
library that, although Ptolemy of Egypt failed to arrest 
its progress by his ridiculous edict, the strange irony 
of fate afterwards prompted the bewitched Antony to 

2 b 2 



372 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



make a present of the entire collection to Cleopatra, the 
daughter of the Egyptian king, who removed it to 
Alexandria. 

The other remains of Pergamos are also of a majestic 
order, and consist of the Acropolis and its adjoining ruins, 
an amphitheatre, aqueduct, bridges, and a spacious tunnel 
645 feet in length. The latter is a remarkable object, show- 
ing that even in those early times, when land was cheap, 
economy of space, particularly within a walled city, had 
to be studied. As the course of the river lay through 
the densest section of the population, it was arched over in 
order to gain additional accommodation. The mason work 
appears to have been of the best description, as the remains 
of a huge edifice still occupy a site over a portion of its 
length ; and part of the remainder is covered with Turkish 
houses, of which the people facetiously say that " they are 
neither on the earth nor in heaven" (Ne Yerde we ne 
Goenhde). In ancient times the bridges must have been 
numerous, as both the rivers, Selinus and Cetius, flowed 
through the city. Five of these bridges remain, and they 
are interesting to the student of architecture, as in each 
case the substructure has been affirmed by judges to be 
purely Grecian, while the superstructure is Eoman. 

The amphitheatre seems to have been constructed ex- 
pressly for the display of great aquatic spectacles, as a 
stream of water passes through the centre of the arena, 
which is perfectly level and paved with stone. Critics say, 
indeed, that the arrangements are such that the whole vast 
area could have been flooded in a very short time when 
the nautical sham fights were about to begin. The other 
ruins, although all magnificent, do not call for special 
mention ; but sufficient has probably been said to show that 
Pergamos must have been a city of great importance when 
the Angel of the Church was addressed by St. John. 

From Pergamos to Thyatira is a distance of about sixty- 
two miles, to be accomplished at present only on horseback 
and with an armed Turkish escort. 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



373 



Thyatira (4). 

No tour is perhaps so utterly disappointing in the whole 
range of Eastern travel as a visit to the site of ancient 
Thyatira. After looking over verses 18 to 29 of the second 
chapter of Revelation, and noting how greatly the com- 
mendation of the Christians there in St. John's days ex- 
ceeds the rebuke administered ; how the denunciations and 
threats were directed, not against the Church, but were 
hurled at heathenism under the name of " Jezabel " ; when, 
towards the end of the chapter, we read two such wonderful 
promises as " power over the nations " and the gift of " the 
morning star " ; when we see such praise, consolation, and 
encouragement in the sacred page, and find the actual spot 
an almost total blank, our mortification is excusably great 
indeed. For ages the site of Thyatira was unknown or 
disputed, and various ruins scattered over Asia Minor were 
in turn credited with being the actual spot. In later times, 
when a keener degree of interest began to be excited 
throughout Europe to have the whole of the sites of the 
Seven Churches properly verified, it was at length found, 
to the satisfaction of scholars, that ancient Thyatira was 
identical with the modern and existing Turkish town of 
Ak-Hissar (White Castle), situated in a most fertile valley 
in the north of Lydia, on the river Lydus, about 26 miles 
from Sardis, and nearly 56 miles north-west from Smyrna. 

The origin and ancient history of Thyatira are obscure 
and limited. Strabo, the prince of ancient geographers, 
calls it a Macedonian colony. Its name was originally 
Pelopia, but Seleucus, one of Alexander's generals — who 
afterwards, like the rest of that great conqueror's captains, 
assumed the title of king — having repaired the city walls, 
named it Thygateira, in honour of the domestic intelligence 
which had just reached him, of the birth of a daughter. 
Other critics, disputing Strabo's assertion, say that the city 
had been known by a variety of names from the remotest 
antiquity, and that it was a place of some commercial 



374 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



importance long before the Macedonian conquests. Putting- 
aside such varieties of testimony as haying no connection 
with the subject at- present engaging our attention, and 
turning to later history and Scripture, we find that in St. 
Paul's days the place had a name and standing for the 
art of purple dyeing. It was probably through this cir- 
cumstance, in connection with Lydia, the seller of purple 
whom the apostle met at Philippi, where she had doubtless 
gone to dispose of her beautiful dyed wool, that the gospel 
was first introduced into Thyatira, the lady herself being 
the first missionary. Under the circumstances, it can do no 
harm to assume that Thyatira, being commercial rather than 
ecclesiastical, a busy hive of manual labour rather than an 
academic grove, would be less likely to possess a brilliant 
history or magnificent buildings than Ephesus or Pergamos. 
But if it cannot lay claim to the historical splendours of 
these famed cities, its neighbourhood was at a later date the 
theatre of some stirring scenes. It was on the slopes of 
its nearest hills that Antiochus the Great mustered his 
legions to contend against the hosts of the two Scipios, in 
which battle he was defeated. On that occasion were 
assembled as leaders and volunteers some of the greatest 
generals of the period — Antiochus, Hannibal, Scipio, Afri- 
canus, and his brother Asiaticus ; the conquerors and de- 
feated of Carthage stood there face to face. There the 
blood of the Koman, the Greek, the Asiatic, and the Moor 
mingled in the terrible onslaught, which practically con- 
verted Lydia into a Eoman province. 

The Thyatira of the Apocalypse, although thus associated 
with at least one great historical event, has scarcely any stone 
records to exhibit ; it can produce no sculptured credentials 
to show the traveller what it may at one time architecturally 
have been like. Its stately edifices, if there were any, are 
as completely gone as if they had never existed. Here and 
there on the outskirts of the present thriving Turkish town 
the visitor may see, half-buried in the soil or covered with a 
growth of wild oleander, a fragment of a capital, a broken 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



375 



plinth, a cracked frieze, or other remains of the ancient 
carvers' skill ; but of temple, church, theatre, circus, castle, 
or aqueduct, not a trace is left. 

On the other hand, it need not for a moment be imagined 
that Thyatira and its surroundings are a "howling wilder- 
ness." Far from it. Ak-Hissar is a prosperous seat of the 
woollen trade, with its dye-works as of old, and abounds with 
good shops of every kind. It possesses nine mosques, one 
Greek and one Armenian church, and is remarkably clean 
and tidy, on account of having an abundant flow of pure 
water trickling through every street. Strange to say, it 
is in these modern buildings and pretty gurgling avenues 
that the antiquarian must search for the chief remaining 
vestiges of old Thyatira, where he will be startled occasion- 
ally to see beautiful carvings and inscribed panels built, 
often upside down, into the walls and garden fences. 
Evidently, then, although war and perhaps earthquakes 
have had their share in the disappearance of the ancient 
city, something has also been due to the utilitarian hands of 
her own sons. These sturdy dyers had little eye for the 
beautiful in form, however good judges they may have been 
of colour. When their city was demolished by natural 
convulsions, or by the struggles of contending armies, they 
simply proceeded to construct a new town out of the relics 
of the old, and to continue the trade of their ancestors as if 
no check had occurred. 

The reader has thus, in imagination, passed over a distance 
of 224 miles, viz. : — 

Miles. 

From Smyrna to Ephesus, by rail, road, and back 98 

„ Smyrna to Pergamos, by steamer and road 64 

„ Pergamos to Thyatira, by road 62 

Total . . 224 

From Thyatira to Sardis is a moderate ride of 26 miles, and 
were the reader to continue his progress in the same direc- 
tion — namely, from Thyatira to Sardis, Philadelphia, and 
Laodicea, and thence back to Smyrna — the distance covered 



376 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 

would be about 282 miles, including a very uninteresting 
horseback journey of 65 miles. Such would have been the 
route some years ago, ere the two convenient railways, 
running north-east and south-east from Smyrna, had been 
formed, necessitating in those days carrying tents for shelter 
at night, and exposing the traveller to the risks of excessive 
fatigue, possible fever or rheumatism, and the certain atten- 
tion of brigands. No one would now voluntarily undergo 
such hardships and risk when, by adopting a longer but better 
railway detour, they can be avoided. Accordingly, after 
an easy ride' to Sardis, we shall again take advantage of the 
railways as far as possible, and our itinerary will be : — 



Miles. 

From Thyatira to Sardis, by camel track 26 

„ Sardis to Philadelphia, by railway 28 

„ Philadelphia to Smyrna, by railway 105 

„ Smyrna to Seraikeuy, by another railway 143 

„ Seraikeuy via Hierapolis to Laodicea and back, by camel track 

and road, about 47 

„ Seraikeuy to Smyrna, by railway 143 



Total . . 492 

Suppose, then, that during a short interval we have been 
wandering about the site of Thyatira and Ak-Hissar, hunt- 
ing up old inscriptions, making a few sketches, and looking 
over the madder fields, which yield the purple dye for which 
the town has for so many centuries been famous. Assume 
also, that we have seen something of its 10,000 industrious 
inhabitants ; that we have visited the Turkish, Greek, and 
Armenian schools, noting the satisfactory strides educa- 
tion has lately taken in that remote Lydian town ; that we 
have mounted our horses, ridden forth, and completed the 
distance of 26 miles, which intervenes between Thyatira and 
Sardis ; and that we have arrived at this once resplendent 
city, the ancient capital of Lydia. 

Sardis (5). 

It would be incorrect to say that anything like the same 
degree of disappointment awaits the visitor at the first sight 



OR, NOTES FROM TEE LEVANT. 



377 



of Sardis, which is the universal experience at Thyatira. 
On the other hand, the student — fresh from the study of 
a nation which flourished exceedingly under seven inde- 
pendent kings, and whose capital this was for over 500 
years — casting his eye around upon the ponderous scattered 
relics, and comparing the present scene of desolation with 
past greatness, its evident poverty with past riches, must 
sympathise with the truth of Solomon's wail over the vanity 
of all human things. 

The remains of Sarclis are situated at one side of the 
plain of the river Hermus, under the' snowy Mount Tmolus 
range (Fig. 14), and have both in ancient and modern times 
been somewhat inaccurately described as standing about half- 
way between Smyrna and Philadelphia. The truth is, the 
relics are about 50 miles by camel track, and 77 miles by rail- 
way, from the former, and only 28 miles or so from the latter. 
As to the origin and early history of Sardis, there seems 
be no agreement, or even the likelihood of unanimity, 
as nearly all the books the Greeks once possessed, con- 
taining the history of Lydia, are believed to have perished, 
so that our main resource for information is now Herodotus. 
This author begins the list of monarchs with Lydus, followed 
by the dynasty of the Heracleidse, thus indicating the 
remote date of 1200 B.C. as the probable commencement of 
the capital. The latter dynasty clung to the throne for 
505 years, and was followed by the Mernmadae kings, whose 
annals are less dubious. These monarchs are now regarded 
by scholars as the really historical Lydian line, the first 
of whom was Gyges (b.c. 718), who gave his name to the 
pretty G-ygean lake, lying on the opposite side of the river 
Hermus to the north of the city. 

On the other hand, the distinguished author of 4 ^Researches 
in Asia Minor ' considers that Manes, the first king of Lydia, 
was no other than our old friend, Noah ; that Lydus, the 
grandson of Manes, was Lud, the grandson of the patriarch. 
I shall not quote the arguments and conjectures in favour 
of this view ; and will merely suggest that, as Herodotus, the 



378 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



(t Father of History," lived so very much nearer the period 
in question, his notion is more likely to be accurate than 
Mr. Hamilton's. In any case the pedigree of the Sardian 
kings will probably be deemed quite ancient enough if fixed 
at 718 B.C., and the point need not receive any further 
consideration. 

The first four monarchs — Gryges (718 B.C.), Ardyes (680 
B.C.), Sadyattes (631 B.C.), and Alyattes (619 B.C.) — were all 
successful soldiers, possessed with an insatiable hunger for 
their neighbours' territory, like the three European vultures 
of our day, who apparently cannot keep their covetous eyes 
off the Balkan Peninsula. These ancient kings extended 
the Lydian Empire, until it embraced nearly all the Ionian 
cities and Asia Minor ; but their ever-increasing lust for 
territorial acquisitions eventually proved their country's 
ruin. The last of the quartette, Alyattes, was especially 
notorious for his earth-greed ; and he pursued his conquests 
until his troops stood face to face on the river Halys with 
the great Medean monarch, Cyaxeres, when he died. Aware, 
doubtless, of the fleeting nature of earthly fame, Alyattes 
provided for keeping alive his memory, and preserving his 
bones by rearing a vast tumulus over his tomb, which was 
completed by the people of Sardis about 560 B.C. Origin- 
ally this enormous cone of earth was much larger than the 
triturating effect of the rains and storms of nearly 2500 years 
have left it at present ; nevertheless, recent measurements 
show it to be 281 yards in diameter at the base, or half a 
mile round, with a height of 200 feet. As there has always 
been a difficulty among scholars to decide whence the earth 
was brought to rear this gigantic mound, the country around 
being an almost dead level for miles on every side, legend 
considerately steps in, and says that the work was wholly 
performed by the Lydian women, and that the Gygean lake 
collected in the hollow from whence the soil was removed. 

The king whose name is most familiarly associated with 
Sardis, has always been Croesus the wealthy, son of Alyattes, 
the last representative of the Mermnadae dynasty. During 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT 



379 



his reign the city and empire reached the acme of their 
greatness. At this period the Lydian court was probably 
the most magnificent the world ever saw, and it had 
attracted to it all the wisdom and art of Asia. The 
beautiful city of Sardis must have sat like a queen, with her 
enchanting Acropolis balanced as a resplendent coronet 
overhead. On the banks of the gold-pebbled Pactolus stood 
the famous temple of the Cybele, surrounded by exquisitely- 
modelled Ionic columns, and the auriferous stream, con- 
tinuing its limpid course through the market-place, appro- 
priately laved the walls of the Gerusia, where the monarch 
of millions kept and exhibited his wealth to the admiring, 
and probably envious, Greeks. There., too, could once be 
seen the stadium, the theatres, the music-halls, the hippo- 
drome, the minor shrines, and the baths, all loaded with 
sculptured marble ; the whole city being surrounded with a 
wall so massive and high that it resisted the utmost efforts 
of Antiochus, his engines of war, and his troops during more 
than a year's siege. 

Amidst all this luxury and splendour, it must not be 
thought that the Lydians of the metropolis had no other 
pursuits than the mere gratification of the senses. They 
were a commercial as well as an artistic race ; and as the 
necessities of trade soon demanded facilities for exchange 
other than mere barter, King Croesus is believed to have 
been the first to make and issue a gold and silver coinage. 
Unfortunately, also, it is to the good people of Sardis, with 
whom at one period wealth seems to have become a drug, 
that we trace the invention of dice for gambling, and several 
games of hazard ; but, on the other hand, posterity owes 
them much for their encouragement of such sages as Solon, 
.ZEsop, and the seven wise men of Greece. But the palmy 
days of this millionaire monarch at last came to an end. He, 
also, had inherited the earth-hunger of his ancestors, and 
the mighty empire of the Medo-Persians seemed ready 
for subjugation. Before Croesus began his forward march 
into Persia, he, according to the manner of his time, con- 



380 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



suited the Delphic Oracle, and was told, in the ambiguous 
language of the Pythia, that he would certainly overthrow 
a great empire. For once the oracle proved correct. The 
conquered and desolated empire was his own. 

After the defeat of Croesus, which occurred in the great 
plain close to the city of Sardis, the splendour of the latter 
waned ; it passed into the possession of Darius, then to his 
son Xerxes, who was subsequently assassinated there. Alex- 
ander was its next possessor, followed by Antiochus, on 
whose defeat it became Roman territory, and was in Roman 
possession when the terrible words must have reached the 
Christian Church there — " Be watchful . . . remember . . . 
hold fast and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I 
will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what 
hour I will come upon thee." * 

Whether the warning of the Evangelist took effect or 
not, we cannot say ; but history informs us that, during the 
reign of Tiberius Csesar, Sardis suffered dreadfully from the 
two terrible earthquakes which shook to pieces so many of 
the great cities of Asia Minor. During the eleventh cen- 
tury the city and all its neighbourhood became Turkish ; 
and in the course of the thirteenth it was utterly destroyed 
by Tamerlane, after which its name and history ceased. 

Such was Sardis, one of the most wealthy and gorgeous 
cities of antiquity. Amidst its stupendous ruins only a 
few mud huts, inhabited by Turkish herdsmen, are to be 
seen. These, along with a little corn-mill or two on the 
Pactolus, the whole now known as the village of Start, 
comprise all that is left of Sardis, the queen and capital 
of Lydia. 

Philadelphia (6). 

It matters little to the traveller with an eye for luxuriant 
herbage, desirous of visiting the site of ancient Philadelphia, 
how he approaches it, as the scene from every point of view 

* Kevelation iii. 2, 3. 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



381 



daring early spring is equally attractive and beautiful. 
Highly-cultivated gardens, vineyards, olive, pomegranate, 
and fig orchards seem to extend all round ; and the more 
distant view embraces one of the most extensive, as it was 
once among the richest, plains in Lesser Asia. The modern 
name of the city is Allah-Scheir (City of God), and its 
inhabitants, mixed Turkish, Greek, and Armenian, number 
twelve thousand. It is situated at the base of Mount 
Tmolus, on a tributary of the river Cogamus, which eventu- 
ally becomes the larger Hermus, and is said to be seventy- 
two miles to the eastwards of Smyrna by camel track, 
although by rail the distance is one hundred and five 
miles. It may be as well to remark here that all dis- 
tances named in Asia Minor, except those on the railways 
and carriage roads, should be quoted and understood as 
mere estimates, because the actual mileage to a traveller 
varies materially according to the season of the year. In 
early spring, for example, when the streams are swollen with 
melting snow, the tourist may require to ride many miles 
along a river's bank, as the wooden bridges are frequently 
carried away by the sudden floods, before he reaches a 
moderately safe ford ; or he may have to make a detour 
occupying hours, in order to circumambulate a wide morass. 
Under such circumstances it is not surprising that the 
accounts of visitors regarding distances sometimes differ, 
when one traveller experiences the winding and circuitous 
paths of early spring, while another in the late autumn, 
passing over the same ground, has been enabled, through 
the solidity of the marshes and the shrunken condition of 
the rivers, to traverse an almost straight line between the 
objects of his search. 

Philadelphia is surrounded by walls forming an irregular 
square, in which many fine trees are seen mingling with the 
tall white shafts of the minarets, many mosques, and a few 
Greek churches. These and the numerous white-washed 
dwellings give, at a little distance, an air of handsomeness, 
comfort, and cleanliness, which is afterwards apt to lead to 



382 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



disappointment, as, like most Oriental towns, its sanitary 
shortcomings on closer inspection are evident. Yet, not- 
withstanding the quantity of matter in the wrong place — as 
a great political authority once gently described dirt* — the 
whole region, from the earliest times, has borne a character 
for such healthiness, that visitors are assured that persons 
who have reached their one hundred and fiftieth year are 
far from uncommon there. 

The city was founded by Attains Philadelphus, a king of 
Pergamos, some time prior to the year 138 B.C. It may or 
it may not have possessed some of the splendour of Sardis 
and Pergamos, but undoubtedly not a building, or even the 
fragment of one, of any importance, dating from those early 
times, has survived. Distant as the city is from other 
towns, and still farther from the sea-board, it is unlikely 
that its sculpture could have been carried off to enrich other 
temples in Asia Minor, or been annexed by the covetous 
foreigner. We can account fairly well for the disappearance 
of the carved treasures of some of the other Apocalyptic 
churches — those of Ephesus, for example, are to be found in 
the British Museum, and in similar institutions scattered 
over Europe ; but the old city of Philadelphia, with all its 
marble workmanship, its ancient massiveness, and its very 
name, have vanished as completely as if the whole had 
sunk into a volcanic abyss. This, indeed, in the opinion of 
competent authorities, is what has become of it. Turning 
to the second book of Tacitus, section 47 (Murphy's trans- 
lation), we find that in the year of our Lord 17, twelve of the 
principal cities of Asia Minor were destroyed by an earth- 
quake, among which were Sardis, Magnesia and Philadelphia, 
and that the surviving inhabitants were, by the Eoman 
Senate, not only freed from taxation for five years, but their 
losses were estimated and relief given. Thus assisted, the 
citizens appear to have lost no time in rebuilding, in a plain 
and substantial manner, their defences and homes with fresh 
materials ; and when, 78 years afterwards, the Angel of the 
* Lord Palmerston. 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



383 



Cliurcli was addressed by St. John (in the language of high 
commendation, without a threat uttered or fault found, as 
in the case of the others), Philadelphia was in a nourishing 
condition, and the Christian Church there was probably the 
purest of all the seven from the adulterations of paganism. 

For about one thousand years thereafter history records 
but little of interest, until 1097, when Philadelphia and 
Sardis were both taken by assault by John Ducas, a Greek 
general, to whom Laodicea had already submitted. In 
1106, the unfortunate place was again assailed, and in 1300 
the Sultan Aladin, although not in possession, impudently 
handed the city over as the share of his general, Karaman. 
The townspeople, however, although entirely a commercial 
community, chiefly employed in dyeing, at this time cared 
little for the Sultan, and still less for his .deputy. They 
accordingly defied both, and stoutly held their city, until 
relieved by the Eoman legions in 1306. Time after time 
during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries was this un- 
daunted corporation of dyers threatened and attacked with- 
out the smallest success to their assailants ; but at last, 
after enduring a close siege of six years by the Sultan 
Bajazet, when famine had slain far more than the enemy, 
they surrendered, and the victor, in 1391, marched through 
the Philadelphian streets the proud vanquisher of a few 
animated spectres, and the owner of a charnel-house. 

Although there does not appear to exist the least remnant 
of the original city on the surface — whatever there may be 
below — it would be untrue to assert that the ruins the 
traveller actually sees are wholly modern. There are relics 
on the site of the ancient Acropolis ; and others are scattered 
over the lower slopes of Mount Tmolus ; also on the spot 
tradition indicates as that upon which the monster Typho 
was crushed by the thunderbolt of Jupiter ; but these, 
after having all been carefully examined by experts, are 
pronounced to be either Koman remains or the debris of 
Turkish houses. If there be any ancient fragments at all, 
they are to be found only in an old graveyard, where 



384 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR; 



certain sculptured crosses upon a few of the tombs may really 
mark the resting-places of some of the early Christians, and 
in the marble sarcophagi scattered about the streets, and 
used as drin king-troughs for cattle. 

The modern town is the seat of a Greek archbishop, who 
rules over the twenty-five churches or so within the walls, 
and who, as well as his predecessors, enjoys a character for 
kindly, though simple, hospitality to all properly recom- 
mended strangers who call. Next to Smyrna, the diocese 
is said to be the largest in Asia Minor, extending from 
Sardis on the west to Laodicea on the south-east. It is 
much to the credit of this portion of the Greek Church, and 
to the many generations of staunch Philadelphians long 
since dead, that, all through the terrible periods of pagan 
persecution and Ottoman misrule, the lamp of Gospel truth 
faint at times, and occasionally dimmed by superstition — has 
never been extinguished ; indeed, the Greek community of 
Smyrna, with a degree of pardonable pride, say that they can 
trace the light of Christianity in Philadelphia glimmering 
uninterruptedly through a long vista of eight hundred years. 

In addition to the industry of these people, their 
sturdy independence, and their kindliness and hospitality 
to strangers, there is a spirit of honesty among them — 
probably part of their distinguished Christian heritage — 
which should not be passed over in silence. Many examples 
might be quoted, but perhaps the following case may be 
sufficient : — During the spring of 1885, among the many 
applicants for silkworms' eggs to Mr. John Griffitt of Bour- 
nabat, near Smyrna, were some Greeks and Turks from 
Alascheir (Philadelphia), who in former years had met with 
irritating disappointments, owing to the ravages of worm 
disease. Formerly, in order to obtain even a small crop of 
cocoons, these people had been in the habit of purchasing a 
large quantity of eggs, in the hope that probably one-fifth, 
or perhaps one-tenth, of the graine might yield healthy 
worms. On incubating the eggs furnished by Mr. Griffitt, 
their surprise was only equalled by their consternation to 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 385 

find that not only did every egg yield its little worm, 
but that every worm was tremendously healthy, and with 
a boundless appetite for food. What were the honest 
people to do? Accustomed as they had hitherto been to 
moderately-sized families of fifty or sixty thousand worms, 
and knowing by experience that it took all their energies 
to supply such numbers with the requisite sustenance, how 
were they to satisfy the cravings of millions of robust and 
hungry caterpillars, as every forty thousand healthy silk- 
worms consume during their gluttonous although short 
career nearly one ton of mulberry leaves ? In this dilemma 
a fine, honest specimen of the Philadelphian farmer, a Turk, 
came to the aid of his fellow-townsmen ; he took over the 
entire family, fed the worms to maturity, harvested an 
unprecedented crop of cocoons, fairly divided the produce, 
and in due time remitted to Mr. G-riffitt his full share. 

I shall conclude this short review of Alascheir and its 
neighbourhood with an amusing anecdote, in which the same 
Turkish agriculturist figured early in 1885. An enterpris- 
ing young man of Smyrna had been for some time endea- 
vouring to introduce reaping machines into the country, and 
persuaded this progressive farmer to give one a trial upon a 
field of barley. The Turk hesitated at first, but afterwards 
agreed on condition that a pair of bullocks should be used 
to drag the implement, as the Moslems are very fond of 
their horses, and look upon employing them in common 
agricultural work as degrading the animals. On the arrival 
of the machine at the railway station, two huge, ungainly 
bullocks were duly provided, and were yoked on either side 
of the pole ; but the unusual appearance of the article, its 
brilliant colours, and the unaccustomed noise it produced 
as it moved along, were clearly not to their taste. However, 
the bullocks, with the driver perched knowingly behind, 
plodded slowly with the reaper to the edge of the growing 
crop ; but, when the action was turned on, at the very first 
revolution of the windmill-like appendages, the alarmed 
animals elevated their tails, bellowed distractedly, and 

2 c 



386 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



bolted with a degree of promptitude and speed no one 
could have expected in such clumsy creatures. Away they 
careered over hill and dale unguided, for the amazed and 
luckless driver had already been shot up into the air out of 
his little iron seat with the violence of the motion, like the 
leather-covered bladder from the toe of a football player. 
Arresting the runaway animals was therefore hopeless, as 
the machinery being now in full whirl, the faster the 
bullocks flew over the face of the earth the quicker the 
terrifying wings revolved, and the more awful to their ears 
the noise behind them became. At length, the animals 
having smashed the reaper into pieces, quietly trotted 
home, with a tail of twisted rods and fractured woodwork 
bobbing behind them. The Turkish farmer philosophically 
attributed the result to the will of Allah, and the owner of 
the remains returned to Smyrna a sadder and probably a 
wiser man. 

Although the railway is not the original cause of the 
present prosperity of Alascheir, there is little doubt that 
this thriving city, and the other seventeen towns and 
villages between it and Smyrna, owe much to the well- 
managed line which connects them with the sea-board. 
The entire distance, as already mentioned, is 105 miles. 
By this railway the tourist can reach Sardis much more 
easily and expeditiously than by riding ; the distance from 
Smyrna is 76| miles. 

From Philadelphia to Laodicea is a long and fatiguing 
" ride of about sixty-five, miles, which few tourists in these 
days of railway facilities will care to undertake. The 
better plan is to return by train from Philadelphia to 
Smyrna, and travel thence by a different line to the last of 
the sites of the seven Asiatic churches. 

Laodicea (7). Via Eierajpolis. 

Having decided in this way, the traveller takes a ticket 
to Seraikeuy the present terminus of the Smyrna and Aidin 
Kailway, a distance of 143J miles. Reaching this village 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



387 



and making friends with the obliging station-master, lodg- 
ings for the night may be obtained, and horses, a guard 
of Turkish soldiers, and a guide arranged for the following 
morning. There is a fairly good road most of the way, with 
a few streams to cross ; and as the ride under ordinary 
circumstances between Seraikeuy and Laodicea occupies 
from 3J to 4 hours, the distance may be reckoned as over 
20 miles. Should the tourist, however, have ridden round 
via Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, and Philadelphia, he will 
have passed over a course of 245 miles or so, to reach the 
same destination. The advantage gained by proceeding 
direct by railway from Smyrna lies in the convenience of 
breaking the journey at the Ayasouluk station, 48 miles 
from Smyrna, spending some hours looking over the ruins 
of Ephesus, and continuing the run to Seraikeuy in the 
afternoon. Next day, starting before dawn, he may visit 
the wonderful marble terraces and the gigantic ruins, the 
theatres, circus, gymnasium, baths, tombs, and temples of 
Hierapolis ; examine the remains of Laodicea, some six or 
eight miles distant, afterwards; and be able to return to the 
railway terminus at night. This is by far the best arrange- 
ment, as in Hierapolis there are wonders to be inspected, 
such as the tourist will probably require to go to the 
north of New Zealand* to see paralleled ; while Laodicea 
is such a fragmentary ruin that a special visit to it alone 
must lead to disappointment. 

Suppose, then, that we have made up a party at Seraikeuy, 
as related at page 244, and have trotted out upon the vast 
plain through which the river Mseander flows (Fig. 47), the 
first sight one catches of ancient Hierapolis, after some hours' 
riding through dust, over streams, and across one end of a 
black, treacherous-looking morass, suggests a horizontal 

* Since the above was written, the white and pink terraces of Lake 
Kotomahana, the natural objects referred to, were wholly destroyed by a 
volcanic outbreak of Mount Taravera, which commenced on the 10th of 
June, 1886 ; so that the marble slopes of Hierapolis are probably the 
only extensive specimens extant of such unique natural wonders. 

2 c 2 



388 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR; 



streak of white paint drawn a little way above the base at a 
concavity in the Messogis mountain -range. This white ap- 
pearance marks the ruins and marble terraces of one of the 
places alluded to by the Apostle Paul in Colossians iv. 13, 
" For I bear him (Epaphras) record, that he hath a great 
zeal for you ; and them that are in Laodicea, and them in 
Hierapolis." The modern name of the latter ruin is Pambouk 
Kalesi (Cotton Castle), so called by the Turks on account of 
the white marble-like incrustation its hot springs deposit on 
everything their waters touch or flow over. It is impossible 
within a limited space to convey an idea of the extra- 
ordinary aspect this vast series of wavy white terraces, rising 
above the plain to the height of about 300 feet, present to the 
eye. Prom one point of view their rounded surface, greyish 
milky colour, and sinuous shape, suggest the spectacle of a 
solidified downpour of white wax over a succession of parallel 
rocky ledges ; seen from above, the effect is what we should 
expect were a lake of semi-liquid stucco suddenly to burst 
over the steeper slopes of the Castle rock at Stirling ; while 
inspected from below, the feeling is as if a pipe-clay river, 
two miles wide, had been arrested in mid-career by the 
mantle-stroke of an Elijah, or a Niagara had been instan- 
taneously frozen and petrified into marble. The slopes 
of the terraces are hollowed out in every direction into 
numberless little cavities or baths, forming troughs of vary- 
ing depths and diameters, of dazzling whiteness where the 
hot water is still flowing, but losing their purity of colour, 
and merging into different shades of grey, where the 
incrustation is older and dry. Some of the conduits, 
which once conveyed water from the central hot-pool, 
near the ruins of the principal theatre, to the front of the 
terrace upon which the city was built, are filled up solidly 
to the brim with lime deposit, and now form admirable, 
hard, level footpaths, from which the strange scene can 
be surveyed without leaving the saddle. Besides these 
solidified canals there are several immense ponds or small 
lakes, doubtless once filled with hot-spring water as a 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



389 



reserve for the public baths ; but these also present a firm, 
pure white surface, on which the iron shoes of the horses 
ring merrily as they trot over what looks like a plain of 
hard-frozen snow. 

The Hot Pool, from which all the water seems to issue, is 
irregular in shape, yet looking as if at one time it had 
been built round with white marble blocks, subsequently 
shattered, and the form modified by the action of earth- 
quakes. Some parts of it are deep, and others shallow ; but 
everywhere, as far as the eye can penetrate beneath the 
steaming surface, the bottom is strewn with fragments of 
marble columns and carvings, as if some magnificent 
building had once enclosed the Titanic boiler. It is always 
full to the brim, the water shows a temperature of between 
85 and 90 degrees Fahr., and has been flowing from pre- 
historic ages. Probably the prettiest feature at present 
about this bath of Yulcan consists in the clumps of fragrant 
oleander and beautiful pomegranate trees and bushes, which 
partly surround and nod over the transparent fountain, as 
if inviting the dusty traveller to have a dip under their 
luxuriant shade. 

The standing ruins of Hierapolis are some four or five 
miles in circumference, and exhibit buildings of great 
massiveness, constructed of enormous blocks of limestone, 
but without a trace of cement. These blocks had all been 
truly cut and laid upon one another so accurately that 
even now, after the lapse of many centuries, there would be 
difficulty in pressing the blade of a knife between some of 
them. When built into position the perpendicular surface 
of each block was perforated with square holes for metal 
bolts, to which the carved white marble slabs, with which 
the outside and inside of the chief erections were decorated, 
had been secured. It need hardly be said that none of 
these decorations remain. Earthquakes, particularly the 
terrible convulsion of a.d. 65, which destroyed the adjoining 
cities of Colossse and Laodicea, utterly ruined Hierapolis, 
which seems never to have been rebuilt. The elements, aided 



390 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



by the hand of the spoiler and the common burner of lime, 
have long ago stripped these vast venerable ruins of every 
vestige of their marble panelling and sculpture, leaving only 
the colossal skeletons for the inspection of the stranger. 

From the north-western extremity of the upper terrace 
the traveller, about to visit Laodicea, leaves Hierapolis. 
Leading his horse down the slippery and occasionally steep 
marble slopes, and picking his steps, in rear of the guide, 
carefully through the verdant but dangerous bog which 
extends for miles in the neighbourhood of the rivers Maa- 
ander and Lycus, a couple of hours' riding, although the 
actual distance is only about eight miles in a direct line, 
brings him to Laodicea (Fig. 49). 

This old city of ancient Phrygia was originally recognised 
by the name of Diospolis, or the " City of the Great God." 
Afterwards, according to Pliny, it was known as Ehoas, and 
finally was called Laodicea by Antiochus Theos, in honour 
of his wife Laodice. At present the spot appears in the 
Turkish histories and newspapers as Eski Hissar, or Old 
Castle, and is found by the traveller about a mile and a 
half within the bifurcation of the little rivers Asopus and 
Cadmus, where seven gentle hills cluster about the terminus 
of a spur of Mount Cadmus (Fig. 45). 

Although so far inland, and therefore remote from the 
opportunities of amassing wealth which communities like 
Ephesus, Smyrna, and Pergamos enjoyed, Laodicea soon 
became one of the most thriving cities in Asia Minor 
through its wool trade, particularly in connection with a 
breed of black sheep, for which the neighbourhood remained 
long famous. It was the abundance of rich pasture to be 
found in the large plain, watered by the rivers Masander 
and Lycus close at hand, that doubtless made wool the 
staple of the city's industry. Probably the same induce- 
ments attracted the thousands of Jews, who from an early 
period formed a considerable section of its inhabitants ; and 
we may feel sure that it was through the latter circumstance 
that Christianity obtained a footing there. 



\ 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



391 



Scholars are unable, I understand, to say conclusively 
that St. Paul ever really preached in Laodicea; but its 
contiguity to Colossse, and the reference to the former city 
and Hierapolis, in the verse from Colossians already quoted, 
seemed to favour the likelihood that the apostle had been 
accustomed to visit and proclaim the Gospel in all three, 
occupying as they did the points of a triangle, and distant 
from each other only some eight miles. Whatever be the 
fact, there can be no doubt that Laodicea was an important, 
wealthy, and a noted ecclesiastical city long after the days 
of St. Paul, and even after the Apocalyptic warning. It 
became the seat of a Metropolitan with sixteen suffragan 
bishops, and in the year 361 was elected by the early 
Christian Church as the place of meeting for fixing the 
Canon of Scripture, as the Jerusalem Chamber in West- 
minster Abbey was appointed in 1870 for its revision. 

After the fall of the Roman Empire, the great rich city 
began to decline, and the progress of decay was hastened 
by repeated earthquakes. In 1097 it fell a prey to the 
Turks; it changed masters in 1120, and again „ in 1161, 
when its remaining bishop was assassinated, and most of its 
surviving inhabitants carried off into slavery. The German 
Emperor Barbarossa rescued it for a short period of six 
years, but in 1196 the Turkish rule was again established. 
In 1255 Tartar hordes swooped upon the unfortunate city 
while under the temporary care of the Greeks, but its 
remains were recaptured by the Sultan, and are his at 
present. 

At this moment Laodicea bears the traces of the 
Apocalyptic threat and punishment in every feature. It 
is a vast scene of desolation, with not an inhabited house 
or hut visible anywhere. Nothing meets the eye except 
shattered, tottering piles of immense cut stones, rifled sar- 
cophagi, and fragments of inscribed marble tablets. The 
dead, even, have had to sustain a share of the punishment, 
as the steep hill, around which the road winds upwards from 
the plaiji to the site of the ancient city, is covered with 



392 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



empty stone coffins scattered about in the wildest disorder. 
This desecration has not necessarily been performed by 
the hand of Barbarian or Turk alone, although, doubtless, 
these did their share, as the entire region round about is 
terribly volcanic, and has been frequently subjected to the 
disintegrating agency of earthquakes. Yast as some of 
the remains may be of theatre, circus, amphitheatre, gym- 
nasium, and aqueduct, they all exhibit a repulsive and for- 
bidding rather than a picturesque aspect ; and the very hills 
upon which they totter seem so scorched and unsubstantial 
that the visitor in most cases is rejoiced to get away back 
to Smyrna, and leave the whole sad scene behind. 

The question may now be asked, " How can you or 
any one else tell with certainty that those sites described 
were really the places once occupied by the seven 
churches mentioned in the Apocalypse?" To this question 
I shall reply by relating with a little more detail than 
at page 256, a single personal experience. On the 
occasion of my visit to Laodicea, I was accompanied, 
besides the Turkish escort, by an English friend, a 
good Greek and Turkish scholar, and by two Greek 
gentlemen of Smyrna, all three enthusiastic antiquarians. 
On our way up the hill to the ruins, the Greeks had 
observed among the numberless fragments the corner of a 
white marble tablet, in size like that of an ordinary tomb- 
stone, sticking out of the debris, and occupying a position 
which indicated immunity from disturbance for a long 
period of time. The heavy lids and boxes of great stone 
coffins were strewn thickly around in every direction, along 
with other marble slabs and sections of columns, on some of 
which traces of Greek lettering and ornamental carvings 
could still be seen. Some kind of instinct, the fruit of 
many former inscription-hunting expeditions, led my com- 
panions to believe that this parallelogram of marble held 
some secret in its keeping which might be extorted. 
Accordingly, our men were set to clear away the earth and 
stones, and on our return from the ruins above, some hours 



OBi NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



393 



later, by the aid of the balance of our drinking-water, 
brushes, and squeeze-paper, an impression of the sculptured 
surface was taken. 

There are doubtless many anglers among my readers, 
and I need not picture to them the feeling of intense 
excitement which precedes the capture and landing of an 
unusually fine trout or salmon. We have in this old 
Britain of ours men of peace and men of war ; men 
accustomed to the pulpit, the camp, the forum, the hospital, 
and the mart of commerce, all of whom at some time or 
other have doubtless had their moments of tingling sus- 
pense rewarded by brilliant triumphs. Such various phases 
of human emotion in the different members of society can 
be perfectly understood by the youngest individual who 
may read these lines, yet I question if it be possible for 
any human being to realise the feelings of our little party 
on that occasion, as we stood upon the frail crust of that 
volcanic hill amidst the relics of antiquity, watching the 
paper impression being carefully separated from the 
marble. Slowly it was removed by well-accustomed hands, 
bringing with it the old-world secret which had been 
carved there, in the quaint Greek letters and spelling of 
2000 years ago. What was it? Only a mutilated date, 
and the single word, Laouthihe (Laodicea). 

Here, then, was another added to many such proofs 
previously collected upon the various sites by others, 
which, taken in connection with the indications of tradition 
and history, leave no further room to doubt the genuineness 
of the recognised positions of the seven churches in Asia. 

Our journey is now ended. We started from Smyrna, 
and we have returned to the same point after an excursion 
in imagination of 716 miles, during which I have en- 
deavoured to depict those interesting Apocalyptic relics. 
The subject, as the reader will have seen, is a wide one, and 
teems with matter for the historian, the antiquary, and the 
artist, as well as for the student of Holy Writ. As the 



894 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



plains of Troy, not more than seventy miles distant from 
Pergamos, have already yielded up to the pick-axe and 
spade of Dr. Schliemann and others, numerous invaluable 
objects of the greatest interest, connected with the heroic 
period of paganism, might not the sites of some at least of 
the Apocalyptic churches, if trenched and examined with 
similar care, produce a rich crop of Christian relics, in the 
shape of lost books, parchments, and inscribed tablets, 
immensely more valuable to humanity than all the Trojan 
trinkets ever likely to be found ? 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



395 



CHAPTEK XXVIII. 

SMYRNA TO CAPE MATAPAN. 

Four months spent so pleasantly and usefully as those 
which gave rise to the preceding pages, could hardly have 
terminated without producing feelings of regret that the 
charming experience was over. From the date of my land- 
ing at Smyrna, on the 14th March, to that of my embarka- 
tion on board the steamship " Kedar," on the 7th July, 
1885, my time had been fully occupied. I had visited 
many interesting spots ; I had received unlimited kindness 
and attention from the Turkish authorities, from many 
distinguished G-reeks, and esteemed members of the foreign 
community ; I had acquired a new circle of warm and 
sympathising well-wishers whom I trust ever to retain ; and 
I had satisfactorily accomplished the primary objects of my 
pilgrimage to Asia Minor. 

Of the friends and acquaintances thus gained among the 
Turks were — His Excellency Hadji Nachid Pasha, Governor 
of the province of which Smyrna is the principal city (now 
Governor of Syria) ; Hussein Hilmi EfTendi, his obliging and 
accomplished Secretary ; Mehemed Noury Bey, Chairman 
of the Local Board of Agriculture ; Kadri Bey, Finance 
Minister ; Teuflk Bey, Procurator-General ; Hadji Mustafa 
EfTendi, Muclir of Nymphio ; Osman Pasha, Commander of 
the Forces in Smyrna ; Yousuf Zia EfTendi, Chief of the 
Industrial School for OrjDhan Boys ; Achmet Kiazium 
EfTendi, Director of the Turkish Hospital ; and others. 

Among friendly Greeks were the two chief dignitaries of 



396 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 

the Church, Archbishop Basilius, Metropolitan of Smyrna, 
and Bishop Anathesius Kyrilos ; Father Seriphino, Econonio 
of the Greek Hospital ; A. E. Kondoleon, Librarian of the 
same useful and well-managed institution ; M. Alexandre 
Christacki, the municipal head, or Mayor, of the Greek 
community of Smyrna; M. Elia Christacki, his younger 
brother, of the Tobacco Kegie, Constantinople, and his 
amiable wife and daughter; Doctors AlexandrofT, Koma- 
nidhy, and Theologheithis ; M. Miltiades D. Seizenis, 
Editor of the Armonia, and other literary gentlemen, 
whose names have escaped my memory and note-book ; 
M. Fokion Poletheros Khyvotos, the foremost Greek 
authority on law in Smyrna, his lady, and pretty young 
family ; M. Georges Boubli, Kedacteur-en-Chef du journal 
Turc Le Beveil, a distinguished Armenian lawyer, occupy- 
ing also a leading position ; M. Jean D. Platys, Chef de 
la Poste Internationale Ottomane • Messrs. Fontrier and 
Marcopoli, enthusiastic antiquarians, inscription-hunters, 
and full of information about Asia Minor ; the Messieurs 
and Madame Pasquali, representatives of ancient and 
honourable Smyrna commercial families; M. Joanni 
Mavroidhy, of the American Consulate, his sister and 
family ; Constantine AlexandrofT, and his clever nephews 
and nieces, ever brimful of story and anecdote ; M. 
Eomanidhy, Madame, and their bright and attractive 
youngsters ; M. Sponti ; M. Thales Malcozzi, the obliging 
Agent of the Cunard Company; M. Bon, and his brisk, 
alert mother, besides a catalogue which might readily be 
extended. 

Of my own compatriots to whom I am indebted for 
many kindnesses, I ought to mention my hospitable enter- 
tainers, Mr. and Madam Grifhtt ; Mr. William Griffitt, and 
all his estimable family ; Mr. and Mrs. Blackler ; the Bev. 
Barnaby Smith, Chaplain to the British Consulate; Mr., 
Mrs. and Miss Paterson ; Mr. Clarke ; Mr. and Mrs. Jolly, 
and Mr. Edwards, of Constantinople ; Mr. Hutton, Station- 
master at Smyrna ; Mr. Wade of the Smyrna and Cassaba 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT 



397 



Kail way, not forgetting his interesting, fairy -like child, 
known locally as " Little Earthquake." * 

Haying made so many kind friends, the parting became 
all the more difficult ; nevertheless, it was done, and at 
7.30 on the 7th of July my last glimpse was obtained, in 
the gathering gloom, of Smyrna, as the steamer screwed 
her way rapidly out to sea (Fig. 12). 

The lonely feeling of isolation, w 7 hich is apt to creep over 
a stranger, when, for the first time, he joins a party who 
have already made friends with one another on board, was 
not experienced in the present instance, as the complement 
as well as the individuality of the passengers remained the 
same as at Constantinople. The position of matters was 
similar to what would have happened had we been on a 
yachting excursion, and arrived a few days previously at 
Smyrna ; mutually agreed to separate for a time, again to 
reassemble for the purpose of continuing our voyage. We 
had reassembled, there were no additions to the party, and 
w 7 e commenced our homeward run together ; but as these 
"Notes" gave very little personal gossip on the outward 
run, it is not intended to make any difference now. It will 
only be necessary to add, therefore, that we all quickly 
settled into our old places at table and elsewhere, and 
things went merrily as a marriage bell. 

Before daylight next morning a few of us were on deck, 
and found that the ship was dashing splendidly through 
the Greek Archipelago. Once more ajDpeared a brilliant 
effect over the island of Khios, and we early birds stood in 
rapt admiration of the splendid tints as they shot out on 
all sides from the gorgeous luminary, changing and being- 
modified every moment, the result of each additional second 
appearing more enthralling to the eye than that seen 

* The infant was born during the night of the last dangerous convulsion 
in Smyrna, a few years ago. She was snatched out of her cradle by the 
alarmed nurse only a minute or so ere the ceiling of the bedroom and a 
partition fell, smashing the cot to pieces. On account of the narrow 
escape, the child came afterwards to be known and spoken about among 
the townspeople as " Little Earthquake." 



398 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



immediately before. Further ahead rested, on the pellucid 
waves, the lovely group named the Psara Islands, whose 
very enchantment seemed this soft July morning to falsify 
the terrible tale of blood which was once enacted there. 
It appears that during the struggle of the Greeks for their 
independence, in or about the year 1822, the inhabitants 
of those islands had been successful in inflicting severe 
damage upon the Turks ; accordingly, when a favourable 
opportunity arrived, the Sultan of the period determined 
to crush them. A fleet of two hundred vessels was 
got ready, they were filled with soldiers; and on the 
3rd July, 1824, the armada appeared before daybreak, 
and landed 14,000 troops, who proceeded to attack the 
principal town. After a most gallant resistance, finding 
themselves exhausted, and knowing the ruthless character 
of their enemies, the islanders promptly made their 
decision; they blew up their powder magazine, and vast 
numbers on both sides were immediately hurled into 
eternity. The carnage is described as having been awful. 
Only about two thousand of the inhabitants altogether 
escaped from the islands, about three thousand had in- 
stantaneously disappeared, presumably in the explosion, and 
of the Turks four thousand were missing. 

Soon after leaving those bewitching islands well in rear, 
in the clear distance gradually loomed forth the large 
stretch of Negropont and its smaller neighbour Andros, 
forming the largest of the Cyclades group, with a population 
of 28,080 ; and the former, scarcely entitled to demand the 
honour of being considered an island, although it possesses 
a family of 80,000 people, as the sea passage between it and 
the mainland of Greece is said to be only seventy feet wide. 
The island of Andros seems to have always been known 
by six other names; but in modern times the usage is to 
recognise it by that of its chief city, Andros. It possesses 
a fair harbour, near which once stood a temple sacred to the 
worship of Bacchus, within the precincts of which was a 
fountain whose water during January is said to have tasted 



OR, NOTES FROM TEE LEVANT 



399 



of wine. This rather pretty island measures twenty-one 
miles in length by eight in breadth ; and its double-peaked 
mountain Kovari, 3204 feet in height, is a noble object in 
the landscape. Euboea, or Negropont, is, after Crete, the 
largest island in the iEgean Sea, and measures 105 English 
statute miles in length by 30 miles in breadth; but at 
one part it dwindles to only four miles across. A chain 
of mountains intersects the island to the north-west and 
south-east, and culminates, in Mount Delphi, 5730 feet in 
height, which is said to be scarcely ever free from vapour 




Axdros Island, the largest Fig. 79. Euboea Island, or 

ok the cvclades. doro channel. negropont. 



or snow. Its two other lofty peaks are Mount Okhi, 4840 
feet, and Pyxara, 4400 feet. Large and fertile as this 
splendid island is, it is but sparsely cultivated, yet the 
climate is good and healthy, with no lack of water. It 
also abounds with magnificent pine and chestnut forests 
of ancient growth ; and its pastures are so rich that the 
population, although not neglecting the production of cot- 
ton, wheat, fruit, honey, wine, and oil, seems to prefer the 
breeding of cattle, and to export wool, hides, and cheese. 
A trade might also be done in metals, as several kinds 



400 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR; 



are found ; and its numerous hot springs would seem to 
recommend it as a sanitarium. Like all the other islands 
of the iEgean, it has frequently changed masters. Ionic 
Greeks appear to have been its first colonisers, and were 
followed by Athenians, who created in it a number of 
important independent states. These were afterwards sub- 
jected to Athens, and held until Philip of Macedon be- 
came their conqueror. The Eomans followed ; in 1204 the 
Venetians had their turn, and gave it its modern name of 
Negropont ; then came the Turks, who held it until 1821, 
but at a call to arms by a lady named Modena Maurogenia, 
the yoke of the crescent was burst; and since then the 
island has been incorporated in the kingdom of Greece. 
The channel which separates Negropont from Andros is 
six miles wide, and the contrast between the two islands 
is most striking, the one exhibiting magnificent chestnut 
forests extending far up the sides of its mountains, while 
the other is comparatively bare (Fig. 79). 

Having edged away from the Doro Channel and its two 
fine islands, the steamer was for a short time in a wide 
reach of the sea, crossing the mouth of the Petali Gulf, 
shortly reaching the Zea Channel leading between the 
island Makro Nisi, near the mainland of Greece, and Zea, 
about eight miles further off. This part of the voyage 
seemed to me exceedingly interesting, pictorially, on account 
of the number of island masses or continental heights seen in 
various directions. On the left rose pretty Zea, and on the 
right Makro Nisi, with the high land of Greece towering 
over it. Far away to the left peeped the tiny isle of 
Gyaros, now called Jura, which the Komans used for many 
a year as a penal settlement. Still further off in the same 
direction, like a mere film on the horizon, Syra could with 
difficulty be distinguished, and I regretted that it lay so 
far out of the steamer's track, as I wished to have seen 
again closely my friend of the outward voyage (Fig. 10). 
Beyond Zea appeared Therma or Kythnos, and far beyond 
the other end of the channel, like a speck on the sea, 



OF, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT 401 

towered the rocky islet of St. Georgio. Of the first of these 
islands, little seems to be known beyond the legend that 
the celebrated Helen of antiquity spent some time upon it 
after the siege of Troy, and gave it her name. It is now 
known as Makro Nisi, simply on account of its shape, those 
Greek words signifying " long island," Its appearance in 
passing is not attractive, yet it serves as a foil or fore- 
ground for the mountain masses near the end of the 
Athenian peninsula. But if Helena has little to attract 
the modern tourist, her opposite neighbour Zea, about 
eight miles distant, is not so deficient in charms. This 
little territory, measuring nine miles long by five miles 
broad, is situated about thirteen miles south-east from Cape 
Colonna in Greece, and anciently bore the names of Co, 
Cos, Coos, Ceos, and Keos. It was the birthplace of 
Hippocrates and Apelles, Simonides and Bacchylides; has 
always been famous for its fertility, wine, and silk ; and 
mythological writers add, for the whiteness and extreme 
tenuity of the dresses worn by its women. Ancient authors 
also assert that, on account of some offence given by those 
lightly-dressed ladies to the goddess Venus, they were 
changed into cows; however, the potency of the ban must 
long ago have become exhausted, as the island is now quite 
flourishing, and has a population of 5700. The town Zea 
stands on a small conical hill on a spur of Mount St. Anna, 
and is approached from the port St. Nikolo, having a depth 
of water suited to the largest ships, by a steep but fair road. 
Its ancient remains are unimportant, and include some 
impressions of gigantic footsteps in blocks of marble, and a 
colossal lion carved in bas-relief upon the face of a rock a 
little way east of the site of ancient Zulis. Thus little Zea 
has something to boast of in having produced one of the 
most learned and successful physicians of antiquity in 
Hippocrates ; the greatest animal-painter the world ever saw 
in Apelles, whose portrait of the charger of Alexander was 
so true to nature that a passing horse neighed when it saw 
the picture ; and two distinguished poets like Simonides 

2 D 



402 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



and Bacchylides, uncle and nephew, the former of whom 
added four letters to the Greek alphabet. 

The other two islands named above are uninteresting 
beyond the fact that the former, Therma or Kythnos, has 
always been famous for its cheese; and the latter, St. 
G-eorgio, from its height, offers an admirable beacon for the 
guidance of ships wishing to enter the Gulf of Athens, as it 
is only some twelve miles from the nearest point of Greece. 

In the course of the day the Zea Channel was safely 
run through, the rocky island of St. Georgio was passed, 
simmering iu an atmosphere heated up to ninety degrees, 
and towards the cool of the evening the wild, remote, 
little Belo Poulo seemed to hide away the setting sun be- 
hind its bare crags. Being directly in the tract of vessels 
bound for Athens, it is furnished with a lighthouse on a 
moderate summit on its north-west point. The entire 
island is only two miles long, and it is situated thirty-two 
miles from Cape Malea. Before the daylight had quite 
departed, our old friend of the outward voyage, Karavi 
(Fig. 9), came in view, and was quickly planted besides 
others in our sketch-books. The neighbourhood of this 
island has a good reputation for fish, notwithstanding the 
great depth of water around and near, varying from one 
hundred and seventy to five hundred fathoms. 

The longest day, however, has an ending, but to some of 
us on board this one terminated much too speedily, as our 
hopes had been high in the morning that we should pass 
close to the grand capes, Malea and Matapan, ere the day- 
light failed, and be enabled to transfer their rugged features 
to our pages. In this hope we were disappointed, as half- 
past ten at night arrived before the steamer began to round 
the former, when it was too dark to see anything. It some- 
times happens on such occasions, when one faculty is 
smarting under frustrated prospects, that another pushes to 
the front and occupies the void. On this night of gloom 
and almost insufferable heat, when the stars alone were 
visible, and when to be below was misery, all the passengers 



OR, NOTES FROM TEE LEVANT. 



403 



kept the deck until a late hour, comparing notes, especially 
concerning the interesting shores we were passing so near 
but could scarcely distinguish. For example, it was re- 
marked that we had now entered, as it were, upon the great 
battle-field of antiquity, where a country, fully one- third 
smaller than Scotland, had defied the whole power of the 
Athenians and their allies during the twenty-seven years 
of the Peloponnesian war. Then the domestic arrange- 
ments of the Lacedaemonians were discussed, particularly 
the austere manner in which their children were educated. 
This austerity found little favour with the ladies on board, 
and the stern courage of the Spartan women, who sometimes 
put to death cowardly sons for acting upon the rhyme, 

" He who fights and runs away 
May live to fight another day," 

had as few admirers. Yet all were agreed in their apprecia- 
tion of the Laconian nation for their splendid courage, 
intrepidity, love of honour and liberty, and aversion to sloth 
and self-indulgence. " Two of their customs I can scarcely 
say that I am in love with," said a sprightly unmarried 
member of our party, who had distinguished himself by 
walking one or another of the ladies on board about the 
quarter-deck for hours at a stretch. " That Lacedaemonian 
habit of noble ladies going upon the stage and playing for 
money seems to me most objectionable — worse, I think, than 
that of a few silly jades in London in our time doing the 
same thing without remuneration." 

" And what was the other objectionable feature in the 
conduct of the Spartan ladies which your Lordship dis- 
liked ? " responded a pert but privileged little lady's maid 
who had hitherto afforded considerable amusement to 
the passengers. 

"Well, you know — that is to say — in fact, all things 
considered, perhaps you'll kindly excuse me going into 
further particulars," answered the noble critic; "indeed, 
I'd rather drop the subject." But Miss Julia Judkins was 

2 d 2 



404 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOB ; 



of a different opinion, particularly as she knew that at the 
moment her mistress was engaged in the saloon writing np 
her diary, so she immediately returned to the charge : — 

"Of course if you won't say anything no one can force 
you. Would you be surprised to learn that I have a notion 
what was passing in your mind ? " 

"I certainly would," replied the sprightly unmarried 
young man. 

"You, sir, were thinking of the manner in which those 
determined damsels of Lacedsemon sometimes treated flirts 
of the male sex." The startled youth winced, looked 
uncomfortable, but said nothing. 

" How it was customary for the women to drag forth all 
the confirmed bachelors, trot them round the altars, and 
belabour them time after time until the shame and ignominy 
of the performance drove them into matrimony." 

Evidently the little lady's maid scored on this occasion, 
as our friend scarcely waited for her last words ere he 
disappeared for the night. 

Meanwhile the steamer had been cleaving her way along 
the end of the Peloponnesian Peninsula, across Yatika Bay, 
towards the four-mile wide channel extending between the 
islands Cervi and Cerigo, about which some remarks were 
made in an earlier part of this work ; and as the lighthouse 
on the former was the last seen of Greece on this voyage, 
so the following sentence or two may aptly conclude this 
part of the subject. The Peloponnesus altogethergscarcely 
extends two hundred miles in length by one hundred and 
forty miles in breadth, and yet what a commanding influence 
that little State, its great men, and their doughty deeds, 
have exercised on all succeeding generations. Its princes 
successively protected the Sicilians, Carthaginians, Thra- 
cians, Egyptians, Cyrenians, and others from their enemies. 
Leonidas with a devoted band of three hundred soldiers 
successfully resisted for a time at Thermopylae the swarming 
millions of Xerxes; and Lycurgus extirpated all luxury, 
forbade intercourse with other nations lest temptation 



OR, NOTES FROM TEE LEVANT. 



405 



should be introduced, and degraded the coinage to heavy 
discs of brass and iron in the interests of honesty. This 
interesting peninsula is also known in modern times as 
the Morea, about the origin of which there is a difference 
of opinion, the probability being in favour of the name 
having been derived from the Latin word " morus" the 
mulberry tree, which grows there in great abundance. 

During the night the steamer crossed the large Gulf of 
Marathonisi, and at two o'clock in the morning the furthest 
south point of Greece, Cape Matapan, was left in rear. 



406 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR 



CHAPTEK XXIX. 

CAPE MATAPAN TO GIBRALTAR. 

When one's steamer is gliding softly like a fish through 
the musical ripples, it is exhilarating to gaze on the deep 
blue of the Mediterranean with the clear, bright eye of 
joyous health, to scan its stupendous capes, snow-clad peaks, 
lovely islands, and classic gulfs, under the glamour of the 
golden sun; but a different complexion creeps over the 
scene when that eye is jaundiced by the demon of biliousness, 
when the heavens are obscured by driving clouds, when the 
merry wavelets have become threatening billows tumbling 
about under changeful winds, as if Boreas, resenting con- 
finement to his Hyperborean blast, is raising an independent 
tempest from every corner of the heavens, and when one's 
interior is in a state, not merely of covert mutiny, but of 
rude, open rebellion. 

Having cleared Cape Matapan at an early hour of the 
morning, we were fairly out of the ,ZEgean Sea, which 
comprises that portion of the Mediterranean situated 
northward of the great island of Candia or Crete, bounded 
on the west by the coast of Greece, and on the north and 
east by the shores of Turkey. The steamer was therefore 
approaching the broadest part of the basin, crossing the 
opening of the Adriatic and steering straight for Malta, 
consequently it was entirely exposed to the fury of the 
gale. Some landsmen, under such circumstances, are gifted 
with the rare and enviable power of defying sea-sickness ; a 
few ladies, also, are able to laugh both Boreas and Neptune 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



407 



to scorn ; but the greater number, not to mention many a 
seasoned sailor, speedily become pale, limp, and useless at 
the approach of a Mediterranean storm. On a previous 
occasion, some years before, I had had a sample of such 
a tempest a few hundred miles to the north-west on the 
same sheet of water, during which all on board, except the 
officers, sailors, and a steward or two, were prostrated. So 
vivid an impression did it produce on my mind at the time, 
as well as such admiration for the splendid activity of a 
servant of one of the passengers, named George O'Blyn, but 
called Goblin for shortness, during that fearful night, that 
the following rhymes* were part of the outcome after all 
danger was over : — 



A WILD NIGHT IN THE MEDITERRANEAN. 

The notion among landsmen 's not unknown 

That th' Mediterranean is a placid sea ; 
But such forget the wild Euroclydon 

Which drove th' Apostle under Clauda's lee. 
It might not be this gale which caught, anon, 

Our friends, yet, doubtless, you will think with me, 
That if a sim'lar tempest blew upon 

Them, even in a modified degree, 
The waves would — though, perhaps, not mountains high— 
The strength of e'en the toughest stomach try. 

What wonder, then, that in the ship's saloon 

Some interesting features met the view. 
Three classes formed its inmates,, very soon 

To be abbreviated into two, 
And presently reduced to only one, 

Consisting of old voyagers, a few. 
The first the pallid, who craved as a boon 

To be removed at once from 'midst the stew; 
The second, squeamish, trying to o'ercome 
Their awkward feelings with small nips of rum. 



* These stanzas occur in an unfinished metrical romance, entitled 
Winifred." 



408 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



But all proved valueless, for still the wind 

Kept shrieking through the rigging, loud and drear ; 
The hoary billows followed fast behind, 

Each moment threatening the deck to clear. 
One paddle, fruitlessly, the air would grind, 

The other, box and all, would disappear ; 
So, even those who'd comfortably dined, 

Admitted that they felt a little queer. 
In short, except the Goblin, all below, 
Collapsed ere reaching Bonifacio. 

Not passengers alone, but others too, 

Were found prostrated on that howling night ; 
Therefore the Goblin found some work to do, 

Which he performed with sturdy mind and might. 
His single arm into a dozen grew, 

As, 'midst the sickness, he alone kept bright — 
Assisting, cheering, fetching, carrying through 
His hundred patients. 'Twas a touching sight 
When morning broke, and the last sickling slept, 
To note that Goblin still his vigil kept. 

The seventh day had come, replete with rest, 

And opportunities for sacred thought 
To whosoever cared to make the quest 

In that Old Volume, whence the Master taught ; 
Or in the later Testament, addressed 

To all humanity, once dearly bought 
And paid on Calvary's accursed crest. 

A calm and lovely Sabbath morning, fraught 
With gladsome tidings to those lately ill, 
From Him who said — " Peace ! Winds and waves be still ! " 

How exquisite this Sabbath morning felt, 

How clear the sky, how translucent the waves, 
As if inviting Goblin, who now knelt 

Beside the taffrail, to their coral caves. 
The peaks of Corsica began to melt 

Into the ether all creation laves ; 
Sardinia seemed a long, wild, rugged belt 

Of mountains towering o'er volcanic graves, 
Whose extinct craters long had ceased to pour 
A fiery flood along that classic shore. 

In the present instance the storm occurred during 
daylight, which robbed it of most of its terrors ; it was of 
short duration, so that no one got into a state of abject 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



409 



misery ; and although we had no good Samaritan on board 
in the shape of a " Goblin," we had an amiable Scotch lady 
of position, upon whom the elements took no effect, and an 
equally amiable young steward and stewardess, all of whom 
attended to and assisted us poor squeamish mortals in our 
extremity. The result was that, as the winds and waves 
gradually subsided into their normal condition towards the 
afternoon faces began to brighten, writing-desks or port- 
folios to appear, diaries to be made use of; and although 
the dinner-table was to some extent shunned, a kind of 
Lenten, surreptitious sustenance of biscuit in fragments, and 
cheese in amorphous scraps, was furtively absorbed at in- 
tervals during the remainder of the evening. 

After another day's sailing the good ship at four o'clock 
on the following morning slipped into the Grand Harbour at 
Malta and anchored (Fig. 80). Although dusk and some- 
what cold, our pencils were immediately at work ; indeed some 
of us had been sketching previously, so that pictures of the 
two outlying islands, Goza and Comino, had been obtained. 
The former corresponds with the ancient Gaulus, covers an 
area of twenty square miles, sustains a population of 17,624 
persons, and owns a fairly productive coral fishery on the 
north-west shore. It is separated from Malta by a channel 
two and a half miles wide, and although entirely surrounded 
by perpendicular cliffs, is defended by a work in Miggiaro 
Bay called Fort Chambray, besides having redoubts and 
towers at intervals all round its twenty-four miles of circum- 
ference. The other island, Comino, is much smaller, having 
a coast-line of only six and a half miles. It lies in the 
channel between Goza and Malta, is almost wholly 
cultivated, has a farmhouse, owns a chapel, and possesses 
several wells. This islet, together with Goza and Malta, 
form the Maltese group, embracing an area altogether of 
one hundred and fifteen square miles. 

Having already alluded to the sights of Malta in Chapter 
II., it is unnecessary to recapitulate, more particularly as 
the stoppage on the present occasion, being comparatively 



410 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



short, was devoted to making a few sketches. It may not 
be out of place, however, to supply one or two historical 




omissions from that chapter. History informs us that the 
three islands forming the Maltese group were wrested from 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



411 



the Carthaginians by the Romans during the first Punic war. 
When the Roman Empire declined, it became a possession of 
the Goths, and afterwards was seized by the Saracens. From 
1190 to 1525 the island remained an appendage of the 
kingdom of Sicily, when the Emperor Charles V. granted it 
to the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, by whom it was 
held for more than two hundred years. On the 12th July, 
1798, Malta capitulated to Napoleon Bonaparte ; on the 
5th September, 1800, it was handed over to Britain, and 
was finally annexed to the Crown by the Treaty of Paris in 
1814. 




Fig. 81.— Cape Box, 1290 feet. Eastern Extremity of the Gulf of Tunis. 

There being considerable uncertainty regarding our time 
of departure, only one passenger went on shore in the boat 
which brought off the letters. These and newspapers, always 
welcome after an absence from one's native land, occupied 
very pleasantly the little time there was to spare, so that, 
after embarking some four fresh travellers, the ship steamed 
away again on her voyage exactly at eleven. 

The view of the lovely island of Pantellaria (Fig. 3), 
obtained on the outward voyage, had been so gratifying that 
I, in common with the other passengers, began speculating 
on the probability of obtaining another glimpse ; but 



412 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



unfortunately it was passed at midnight, when all, except 
the officers on duty and watch, were asleep. Yet the dis- 
appointment was in some measure atoned for the following 
morning — that is, the second after leaving Valetta — by a 
fairly close and unobstructed view of the bold, dark, grim- 
looking headland, Cape Bon (Fig. 81) forming the eastern 
extremity of the Gulf of Tunis. About one mile behind 
the cape the land rises to the height of 1290 feet, and is 
surmounted by the ruins of an old tower. 

The cape itself is such a conspicuous object that mariners 
assert that in clear weather they can recognise it when fifty 
miles at sea. On a shoulder of the ridge, about three 
and a half miles south-south-east of the headland, is a fort 
situated 835 feet above the water, which is also a good 
landmark. 

Considering the degree of interest which attaches to these 
shores of the Mediterranean on account of their ancient 
history, it is surprising that more opportunities of visiting 
the kingdom of Tunis are not available to the student, the 
antiquary, and the artist. The steamers of the Cunard and 
other companies are constantly passing and repassing within 
fifty miles of the ruins of one of the most important cities of 
antiquity, and yet not one passenger perhaps in a thousand 
sees the spot, even through his telescope, upon which the 
few remains of Carthage still stand. It is not that the 
glory of this little African kingdom has wholly departed 
since the shadow of France fell over it. True, the popula- 
tion of its modern capital, Tunis, is only about one-fourth of 
that of its ancient metropolis, Carthage, three miles distant ; 
but its bazaars are still well supplied with merchandise, its 
manufacturers constantly produce shawls, tapestries, mantles, 
and coloured cloths ; besides, leather, soap, wax, and oil, 
coral, gold-dust, ivory, fish, cattle, fruit, and grain are 
largely exported. 

Shortly after passing Cape Bon, the steamer sailed within 
a short distance of the curious volcanic group of islands 
named Zembra and Zembretta, occupying the eastern side 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



413 



of the entrance to the Gulf of Tunis, over which the 
brilliant orange and crimson rays of the rising sun were 
beginning to tinge the sky with their splendour. The gulf 
is forty-five miles broad at its mouth, and at its other 
extremity, near Cape Ferro, lies another little archipelago 
of still more rugged isles, the Galitas, (depicted from an- 
other point of view during the outward voyage in Fig. 2). 
Mount Guardia is the highest peak in Galita, rising to the 
height of 1240 feet, while Sugarloaf, to the south-east, 
measures 1115 feet. At the north-east are Gallo, the outer- 
most and largest, about a mile distant ; Pollastro is in the 
centre, and is the smallest ; and Gallina, the inner isle, is 
half a mile distant. To the south-west of these rocks lie, 
at the distance of one mile and a half another tiny group 
consisting of Galitona and Aguglia ; the latter is the 
larger, but only projects above the sea 410 feet. With the 
exception of Galita, these isles are wholly barren and un- 
inhabited, and it maintains only one Arab family. 

But although unsuited at present for the support of 
human beings, the seas around the Zembreas and Galitas 
teem with wealth in the form of coral and sponge fisheries. 
The former valuable product is taken at a distance of two to 
ten miles from the coast, and in depths of twenty to forty 
fathoms ; while sponges are collected from rocks in the 
shallower water near and among the islands. Italians 
living on the coasts of Tunis and Algeria are the principal 
coral divers, whose recognised season is from March to 
October ; although those domiciled near the fisheries pro- 
secute their calling, whenever the weather permits, through- 
out the year. The sponge-collecting season is from De- 
cember to February, and the hunters comprise Greeks, 
Italians, and Arabs, the first named being the most expert 
divers. 

In an earlier page of this work a scene of cruelty was 
described as having occurred at Syra, the victim being an 
octopus. Among the islands just alluded to large numbers 
of the Octopodia family are also fished and cured for the 



414 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



Greek market, where the repulsive-looking meat is regularly- 
sold for human consumption. In groping at the bottom 
among the clefts in the rocks for these hideous monsters, 
there is little doubt that accidents sometimes happen to the 
divers ; and it may have been from some of their exag- 
gerated stories, born of terror and hairbreadth escape, that 
Victor Hugo got his original idea for a thrilling scene in his 
< Toilers of the Sea ' of 1870 * 

Between those two groups of volcanic islands vessels 
bound for Tunis pass to the head of the gulf, a distance of 
thirty miles, beyond which lies a shallow lagoon with the 
town planted conspicuously on its western side. Like most 
Eastern walled cities it is dirty, partly in consequence of its 
streets being narrow and unpaved. Nevertheless, it contains 
several magnificent buildings, such as the citadel, commenced 
by Charles V. and completed by Don J ohn of Austria ; the 
mosque of Jussuf, elaborately pillared with marble ; and the 
palace of the Bey, glittering with barbaric splendour of 

* " Gilliatt had thrust his arm deep into an opening of the rock, the 
monster had snapped at it. It held him fast as the spider holds the fly. 
He was in the water up to his belt ; his naked feet clutching the slippery 
stones at the bottom ; his right arm bound and rendered powerless by the 
flat coils of the long tentacles of the creature, and his body almost hidden 
under the folds and cross-folds of the horrible bandage. Of the eight arms 
of the devil-fish, three adhered to the rock, while five encircled Gilliatt 
. . . Two hundred and fifty suckers were upon him, tormenting him 
with agony and loathing. He was grasped by gigantic bands, the fingers 
of which were each nearly a yard long, and furnished inside with living 
blisters eating into his flesh . . . His left hand only was free . . . 
Gilliatt grasped his knife ; the sucking increased. He looked at the 
monster which seemed to look at him. Suddenly it loosened from the 
rock its sixth antenna, and darting at him, seized him by the left arm, 
and advanced its head with a violent movement . . . But Gilliatt was 
watchful ... He plunged the blade into the fat slimy substance, and 
by a rapid movement describing a circle round its two eyes wrenched the 
head off . . . The struggle was ended. The folds relaxed. The 
monster dropped away. The four hundred suckers, deprived of their 
sustaining power, dropped at once from the man and the rock. The mass 
sank to the bottom of the water. Breathless with the struggle, Gilliatt 
could perceive upon the stones at his feet two shapeless, slimy heaps . . . 
The monster was dead." 



OB, NOTES FBOM TEE LEVANT. 415 



carmine, azure, and gold, and musical with the sound of 
falling water from its many marble fountains. 

But it is to the ruins of Carthage, three miles distant, that 
the student will probably turn, in preference to lingering 
among the Tunisian columns and marble arcades. Accord- 
ing to legend, this ancient city was founded by Dido, a 
Phoenician queen, daughter of Belus King of Tyre. Her 
husband having been murdered by her father's successor 
Pygmalion, her own brother, the queen, along with a number 
of Tyrians, fled to sea, and founded a colony on the African 
coast upon land purchased from the natives. It was at first 
named Byrsa, from the Greek word meaning a hide, on 
account of the land having been measured by means of a 
skin cut into thongs. So much for the legend ; but it 
appears that scarcely anything truthful, is known of Car- 
thage until it had become one of the greatest commercial 
cities of ancient times, when it had a population of 700,000 
during the first Punic war. For 737 years the city and 
republic lasted, but during the third Punic struggle it was 
totally destroyed, one hundred and forty-seven years before 
Christ, by Scipio Africanus, a Koman general. It was this 
famous soldier who was afterwards seen weeping amidst the 
ruins, his orders having been to burn the city and to raze the 
walls, and he wept at the harsh duty, as he feared that some 
day his beloved Home would meet with a similar fate. 

It is one of the pleasures of sailing in the western part 
of the Mediterranean, particularly when beyond longitude 5° 
east, that the view ceases to be confined to one side. If the 
steamer has to touch at Gibraltar, as was the case on the 
occasion under review, she gradually edges away from the 
coast of Algeria, seemingly towards the Balearic Isles, 
sailing over the deepest part of this most interesting of all 
inland seas, which, at forty miles from Minorca, is given in 
official books as being 1678 fathoms, or nearly two miles. 
The next prize spot for profound depth is at the western 
contraction between Capes de Gata and Tresforcas. It is 
generally the fourth day after leaving Malta that the 



416 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOB ; 



traveller again enjoys a glimpse of the coast of Spain at the 
former cape, which forms the eastern extremity of Almeria 
Bay. It is a rugged headland, bearing on its summit a 
tower named La Teste, and to the southward, about a mile, 
the castle of San Francisco de Paula is seen. Almeria is the 
chief town of a province of the same name, situated at the 
mouth of the little river Almeria. The town has good 
defences, possesses many ecclesiastical buildings, and in 
the days of the Moors was considered, next to Granada, the 
most important and wealthiest in Spain. It was then the 




Belerma. Malahacen 11,830 feet. Sabinal lighthouse 4£ miles off. 
Fig. 82.— South Coast of Spain. Almeria Bay, W. 



principal port connected with the Italian and Oriental traffic ; 
yet it was scarcely to its credit that it was feared by the 
traders of other nations as being quite as noxious a nest of 
pirates as the Algerians of Oran on the opposite side of the 
sea. Since those stirring days it has dwindled, and at 
present does comparatively little manufacturing, but its 
population of 20,000 still pursues a fair trade in the export 
of wine, lead, cochineal, and red silk. Almeria Bay extends 
for twenty-two miles westwards from Cape de Gata,but it is 
only eight miles in depth at the point where the town is 



OR, NOTES FROM TEE LEVANT 417 

situated. This is rather an advantage to the traveller with 
an artistic eye, as he is thereby afforded most gratifying 
pictures of that grand, rugged coast, dominated by the 
magnificent, snow-topped Sierra Nevadas. Completing the 
run across the bay, his attention is arrested by three objects 
on shore : the towering Malahacen ; the prettily-situated 
little glittering town of Belerma, nestling at the base of 
an intermediate range; and Sabinal lighthouse, forming 
the western limit of the great inlet (Fig. 82). After a 
time the Eoqueta mountains on one side, and gathering 
vapours on the other, gradually shut out bit by bit the 
Nevadas, until only a distant view of the mighty culminating 
peak is obtained. This splendid range skirts the southern 
coast of Spain at a distance from the sea of thirty miles, 
terminating in the sierras of Algeciras, from which rise some 
of the highest peaks in the country. Most of these are 
covered with perpetual snow, and are said to be visible in 
clear weather from the opposite coast of Africa. Of all the 
summits of the Sierra Nevada those of the Malahacen, 11,830 
feet, and Yeleta, three miles westwards, 11,550 feet above 
the sea and about twenty miles inland, are the chief. At 
the foot of the Roquetas, alluded to above, about two and a 
half miles from Elena Point, stands the castle and little town 
of the same name ; it is unimportant, and possesses a 
population of only 2300. 

Still skirting the Spanish coast, the steamer passed the 
little towns of Adra, Motril, and Torrox, but at too great a 
distance, and difficult, on account of the waning light, to 
grasp pictorially their features. Eveu Malaga, some seventy 
miles north-east of Gibraltar, although twinkling with lights, 
could only just be seen. This prettily-situated town, of 
more than 113,000 inhabitants, seems to be carrying away 
the palm from any in France or Italy as a winter resort for 
invalids. It is said, indeed, that the word " winter," as 
understood under our British skies and under the perforating 
keenness of our searching winds, has no meaning there. It 
is so sheltered on every side bv the high mountains, except 

2 E 



418 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR; 



towards the balmy south, the climate is so dry and the sun- 
shine so continual, that it looks like a gift from beneficent 
Nature freely offered to her poor consumptive children, 
wherein to recruit and pick up their shattered constitutions. 
With the exception of some handsome Moorish ruins, there 
are alleged to be no attractions for the antiquarian, what- 
ever riches of outline and colour there may be for the artist ; 
but this assertion should hardly be accepted literally of a 
town founded by the Phoenicians, which has been a focus 
of busy commercial life and trade for over three thousand 
years. In our days Malaga is best known commercially for 
its large export of sweet wines, obtained from the luscious 
Muscatel grape ; its raisins, almonds, figs, and oil. Of these 
products the annual -value sent to Great Britain and 
America exceeds one million sterling, and if its good people 
would confine their trading efforts to such legitimate 
enterprise they would deserve greater commendation ; but, 
unfortunately, the traces of the old roving Phoenician blood 
are still uneradicated. Its people carry on an extensive 
smuggling traffic with Gibraltar, Marseilles, and other places, 
so that many a daring midnight scrimmage may yet occur 
between the Pillars of Hercules, of which the world is never 
any the wiser, and many a deed of heroism, and otherwise 
performed in the darkness, which would furnish British 
writers of " impossible kinds of stories " with thrilling 
pabulum for years to come. 

The remainder of this charming run along the rugged 
Spanish coast was performed at a reduced rate of speed, and 
in the blackest gloom, as, Gibraltar being first of all a 
fortress, and only secondarily a commercial rendezvous, it 
was necessary to reach it not much sooner than the hour 
when admittance could be obtained. Accordingly, after a 
w 7 eary night — rendered doubly so by the slow, deliberate 
thud, thud, thud, of the lazy screw— like the wearied tramp 
of a sleet-buffeted policeman about to go off duty on a 
December morning, the ship rounded the glowing light- 
house on Europa Point at half-past four, and ere other five 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT 



419 



minutes had passed, every sketcher on board was on the 
quarter-deck with paper, pencils, and colours, working 





as if between life and death, and a fear lest the vast rock- 
stronghold might sink into the sea before it could be 

2 e 2 



420 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



depicted (Fig. 83). Slowly our steamer sailed into the gulf, 
meandering among numerous others already made fast 
alongside their coaling-hulks, and passing many more of 
both the commercial and fighting services at anchor off the 
town between the sites of the two one-hundred-ton guns. 
At length, at a quarter to five, we may be said to have 
arrived, as the vessel was also secured fore and aft to an 
ancient specimen of marine architecture ; and immediately, 
amidst a gale of wind, the transfer to the steamer's bunkers 
of about one hundred tons of fuel commenced. There 
being no cargo either to discharge or load, and only a few 
passengers to embark, who speedily arrived on board, the 
steamer's stay was of short duration. Consequently, only 
one or two of our fellow-voyagers undertook the risk of 
going on shore to see old friends. Fortunately, the wind 
was unaccompanied by rain, so that those among us who 
remained on board, in order to make a few sketches, were, 
with the exception of a little annoyance from the coal-dust, 
not materially inconvenienced. 

Gibraltar is the Mons Calpe of the Phoenicians and 
Eomans, although its earliest title seems to have been 
" Alube," which the Greeks modified into " Calpe " ; it is 
the Gibel Tarik of the Arabs, and the Monte de Gibraltar 
of the Spaniards. The rock rises abruptly, like a wall 
almost, at the termination of what is known as the "Neutral 
Ground," to the height of 1395 feet above the surface of 
the Mediterranean ; it extends for two and a quarter miles 
south, and is hardly anywhere three quarters of a mile in 
breadth. This curious rocky mass consists of grey marble 
in its primary state of formation, seemingly deposited in 
layers from twenty to forty feet thick. From the sea it is 
barren-looking, but a nearer examination reveals many 
grassy hollows, and even small wooded glens, where as- 
paragus, cacti, aloes, palmitas, capers, and other shrubs 
grow freely ; while its living creatures include Barbary 
apes, woodcocks, partridges, rabbits, and pigeons. Sporting 
being discouraged for military reasons, this happy family 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



421 



lives from year to year almost unmolested, and helps in 
some degree to mitigate the stern solitude of the upper 
heights. On the African side of the strait is the rock and 
Spanish fortress of Ceuta, dominated by the tremendous 
precipices of Mons Abyla, or " Apes' Hill," forming, with 
the rock of Gibraltar, the two " Pillars of Hercules." To us, 
of the nineteenth century, it appears unaccountable that the 
splendid natural fortress of Gibraltar should, for many cen- 
turies, have been altogether neglected as a stronghold by 
Phoenician, Carthaginian, Koman, and Goth; and that it was 
the genius of the wild Moor which first converted it into a 
place of military occupation. This occurred during a.d. 711, 
when the Saracens fortified the rock as a base of operations, 
and as a coigne of vantage to future expeditions leaving the 
Barbary coast. It was from the name of the leader, Gebel- 
Tarif, on this occasion that the rock acquired its Arabian 
name, which simply means the hill of Tarif, of which 
Gibraltar is a corruption. A small portion of the original 
fort still remains. From a.d. 711 onwards to the present 
time, the advantages conferred by the possession of this 
fortified hill have appeared so obvious that it has never 
lacked a master, and has frequently been the scene of 
the fiercest and most prolonged struggles. For years it 
formed a perpetual bone of contention between Moor and 
Spaniard, sometimes held by Almoravide princes, next by 
native Arab kings. In 1309 it became Spanish through 
the fortune of war, was besieged ineffectually by Moors in 
1315, and fell before the arms of Fez in 1333. Again, in 
1436, Spain made an attack upon the fortress, but failed, 
until in 1462 a treacherous Moor gave that power possession. 
A long period of tranquillity ensued, during which addi- 
tional fortifications were added, so that the military opinion 
of the seventeenth century pronounced it impregnable. 
However, in 1704 a combined British and Dutch force 
bombarded the stronghold, with the result that the Spanish 
governor capitulated ; and since then it has remained 
continuously, but grudgingly, in British possession, as it 



422 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOE ; 



was subjected to attacks by Spain and France in 1705, 
1720, and 1727. After each ordeal the mighty rock carne 
out of the fight better prepared for the next, with the 
red flag of Britain still fluttering in the breeze; but the 
fortress had need of all its previous preparation, and its 
defenders all their courage and resolution, as in 1779 the 
great siege, which lasted three years seven months and 
twelve days, began. The fortress was attacked by land 
and sea by the combined forces of Spain and France, the 
first considerable operation occurring on the 12th Januarv, 
1780. In April, 1781, the allies opened fire with 114 pieces 
of artillery, including fifty large mortars ; and the bom- 
bardment continued with little abatement until the 26th 
November, when, by a desperate British sally, some of the 
Spanish works were destroyed and their main depot of 
ammunition exploded. By this deed of daring about 135 
guns were silenced for a time ; but the respite to the brave 
garrison under General Eliott was only temporary. On the 
8th September, 1782, the great effort of the siege was made 
by nine line-of- battle ships, fifteen gun and mortar boats, 
united to the fire of 170 cannon of the largest calibre on 
land. All this artillery opened on the fortress at once, 
the cannonade continuing for four days, when it was 
tremendously increased by the combined fleets, which 
now numbered forty-seven sail-of-the-line, and additional 
frigates and smaller vessels. On the 13th every gun on 
both sides was in operation, and red-hot shot from the 
fortress was pouring on the Spaniards and French like a 
shower of glowing rocks from an active volcano. It was 
some time ere the scorching missiles took effect, on account 
of the precautions adopted by the allies ; but on the 
afternoon of the following day eight of the ten armoured 
battering-ships were on fire, and every one of them was 
destroyed. The carnage and deaths by drowning on the 
side of the enemy were estimated at 2000 men, while the 
garrison had only sixteen killed and sixty-eight wounded. 
In the midst of all this horror, a British soldier, Brigadier 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



423 



Curtis, organised a band of his men, who sallied forth on a 
mission of mercy upon the wreck-strewn bay, and rescued 
numbers of the enemy who had been left by their terrified 
shipmates to perish. Since that crowning feat of British 
arms, the possession of Gibraltar has been undisputed. As 
might be expected, the fortress is guarded with sleepless 
watchfulness, its defences are continually being increased, 
and its immense stores of ammunition and food are never 
allowed to diminish, so that, with its large garrison of 6212 
soldiers, its formidable batteries, its vast galleries of com- 
munication in the solid rock, one above another nearly 
to the summit, and the readiness with which the British 
Mediterranean fleet could always co-operate with its 
defenders in time of war, this mountain of grey primary 
marble may safely be considered the strongest fortress in 
the world. 

After all the fighting, loss of life, and waste of resources 
there has been in connection with the struggle for the 
possession of Gibraltar during the past 1174 years, the 
question may well be asked, " Has the game been worth the 
candle ? " The rock naturally belongs to Spain, and its 
occupancy by any other power is a constant menace to the 
peninsula. Not only so, but its traders, through their 
inveterate smuggling propensities, are a perpetual fountain 
of annoyance and heavy expense to the Spanish revenue 
department, and such shady transactions afford an ever 
ready excuse to both nations to let loose the dogs of war. 
Looked at with either the financial eye, or that of political 
economy, Gibraltar is as bad an investment for Britain as 
could well be conceived, as its income from customs, port 
and quarantine dues, land revenue, stamps, taxes, and 
licenses in 1883 amounted to only £48,335, whereas the 
expenditure during the same period was £52,681, exclusive 
of its enormous military cost paid out of the national purse, 
which may safely be reckoned as always more than £300,000 
per annum in time of peace. The portions of its harbour 
which may, by a stretch of the imagination, be called 



424 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOB ; 



sheltered, are inadequate for the exigencies of a modern 
British fleet ; the commercial anchorage is exposed to sud- 
den and tempestuous winds, and therefore awkward for 
our enormous mercantile marine. As a military station for 
troops it is said to be detested by both officers and men, 
and the chief raison d'etre for it still being held, that its 
guns command the entrance to the Mediterranean, a channel 
more than fifteen miles wide, may be relegated to the 
realms of silly fiction. The rock possesses neither spring 
nor riyulet, and its inhabitants are dependent on the clouds 
and on distillation for all the fresh water required. In a 
word, Gibraltar demands everything and yields nothing ; 
its tropical glare during months at a time encourages habits 
of intemperance, and is fruitful of sunstroke, while to many 
of the teething infants of exotic parents its climate is fatal. 
As a signalling-station for passing ships it may have been 
at one time of some little importance during daylight in 
the absence of fog, and useful as a coaling-station when the 
bunkers of Mediterranean steamers were of very limited 
capacity in proportion to consumption of fuel. But for the 
former purpose, a rock, over a thousand feet high, bristling 
with guns and swarming with soldiers, is now scarcely 
necessary ; whi]e for coaling purposes Malta is in every way 
superior. 

Shortly after nine o'clock the " Kedar " started on her 
homeward voyage amidst rain and squally weather, which 
promised badly for the newly-shipped passengers, and was 
not viewed with indifference by some of those who had 
already been ill. 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



425 



CHAPTEE XXX. 

GIBE ALT AE TO LIVEEPOOL. 

As the steamer gradually drew away from the anchorage 
the magnificent dimensions of the great rock-fortress 
became more and more pronounced, and those among the 
passengers who had been expatiating most freely upon the 
uselessness of such a marble incubus to Britain, now began 
to hesitate and to rearrange their thoughts upon the subject ; 
then to modify their opinions, and to cast about in mutual 
conversation for some more feasible and less bitter solution 
of the difficulty than that so often suggested of voluntarily 
getting rid of the responsibility by handing, for a con- 
sideration, the stronghold over to Spain. One practical 
person, more familiar and sympathetic, perhaps, with 
quarrying operations and parochial business than with 
artistic, antiquarian, or military feelings, mildly suggested 
blowing up the whole affair with dynamite, and selling the 
wreck for metal to the road trustees of Andalusia. Here a 
lively Irish officer with a grievance — as what native of the 
Emerald Isle is without one — struck in. Instead of de- 
molishing any part of the proud rock, he would rear it 
higher ; and it was at this point his peculiar wrong was 
aired. It appears that a former governor of the fortress, 
O'Hara by name, erected a look-out tower on the summit of 
the hill, which was afterwards shattered by lightning. The 
ruin was never repaired, and now serves merely as a pic- 
turesque feature in the landscape. 

" Had that noble and pathriotic Oirish souldier been Eng- 
lish or Scotch, or even Welsh," said the veteran sailor with 



426 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



an enthusiasm which scorned all criticism, " his handiwork 
would have been respected and maintained, instead of being- 
mocked at and oblitherated ; and we should not to-day be 
weeping tears of indignation oyer an unforeseen calamity, 
which no one could help." 

While we were slowly recovering from the effects of the 
cachinnation produced by the Irishman's appeal, another of 
our number, a man apparently with a commercially prophetic 
brain, thought that in the interests of the future the rock 
should be left standing a little longer, as it, and the other 
Pillar of Hercules on the opposite shore, might become valu- 
able as the towers for a railway suspension-bridge across the 
strait, with a station at Morocco. In this manner, by means of 
these three suggestions, an epitome of the public opinion of 
the present time was unconsciously offered to view. Those 
who, like the extremists of England and Scotland, and the 
rebel-mongers of Ireland, would ruthlessly and immediately 
change, subvert, and destroy all revered institutions of the 
country, on account of some fancied short-coming in their 
working, or in the human machinery conducting them, might 
be compared to the flippant dynamitard ; those who, like our 
Conservatives, without reference to uselessness or unsuit- 
ability to the spirit and demands of the age, would not only 
perpetuate the mouldy abuses of their Tory ancestors, but 
would add to their most crooked features, are truly repre- 
sented by the mourner over the O'Hara tower; while the 
broad-minded, cosmopolitan, progressive, far-seeing Liberal 
party — ever ready to move onward and upward, but never 
to retrograde or to sink — seem fitly indicated by the bold 
engineer who would save the grand old classic rocks, and 
aim at connecting the Pillars of Hercules by means of a 
railway bridge, and so quickly illumine the " dark con- 
tinent " with European civilisation. 

Before the tourist has got too far away, he should note 
the prettily-situated little Spanish town of Algeciras in the 
province of Cadiz, nearly opposite Gibraltar, on the further 
side of the gulf. Beautifully and picturesquely planted on 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



427 



and at the base of a range of low tree-covered hills, its multi- 
tude of glistening white houses set against a background of 
the most refreshing green, and towered over by a mass of 
rugged brown mountains, offer to the eye a most attractive 
picture. This little town of 11,000 people is the Al Jezarah 
of the Arabs, and is protected on its north side by the fort 
of Santiago, and some military works on the islet of Verde. 
Apart from its interesting position, which makes it, by 
means of its steam ferry, an accessible resort for all who can 
leave the rock during the intense summer heat, the town is 
notable as having been the first in Spain which succumbed, 
in the year 713, to the prowess of the Moors. These dusky 
warriors retained their capture for seven centuries, when, 
during 1344, it was taken, after a siege of twenty months, by 
Alfonso XL of Castile. For some reason, not now clear, this 
military operation was considered the distinguishing siege 
of the age ; and it created such intense anxiety throughout 
Europe and elsewhere, that crusaders from all quarters 
hastened to take part in it — even Edward III. of England 
offered to go in person to the assistance of the Spanish 
monarch. In modern times the inhabitants of Algeciras 
enjoyed a treat, which to them must have been like the 
effects produced by the eating of " the little book " mentioned 
in the Apocalypse. On the 6th June, 1801, the British ad- 
miral Saumarez made an attack upon a combined French 
and Spanish fleet under Kear-admiral Luinois, between 
Algeciras and Tarifa, when the former was severely 
checked and almost defeated. A few days afterwards he 
renewed the engagement with a crippled force of less than 
half that of the enemy, and although he found himself 
helpless to prevent their retreat into Cadiz, he destroyed 
three of their ships, and deprived them of three thousand 
men in killed and prisoners. It was of this action that 
Lord Nelson declared that "a greater was never fought." 

Sentimental people, unacquainted with all the circum- 
stances, are too much in the habit of expending all their pity 
on Spain, because Great Britain has hitherto steadily refused 



428 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



to yield up to her the much-coveted rock and fortress of 
Gibraltar. Such persons, if they made a little inquiry, 
would find that Spain behaves on the opposite side of the 
strait in precisely a similar manner towards the kingdom of 
Morocco, in regard to the stronghold of Ceuta. This is a 
solitary fortress held by the Spaniards in the teeth of the 
Moors, as Gibraltar is by Great Britain against the wishes 
of Spain. For many years Ceuta has been undergoing a 
gradual military transformation, into what the Spaniards 
believe to be, a second Gibraltar for strength, and it is 
now thoroughly fortified, part of the works being erected 
on Mount Hacho, the ancient Abyla, or South Pillar of 
Hercules. Its history goes back as far as the year 534, 
when its name was Septa or Septum. On that date it was 
wrested from its Yandal masters by Justinian. In 618 the 
Western Goths pounced successfully upon it, who in turn had 
to yield it to the Moors. In 1415 Don Juan I. of Portugal 
seized Ceuta, but when the Portuguese detached themselves 
from Spain, in 1640, the fortress and town remained with 
the latter, and have been a Spanish possession ever since. 
Behind this fortress rises the Sierra Bullones, or Apes' Hill, 
a rugged, precipitous mountain mass, towering in a series of 
wild, sharp, inaccessible cliffs to the summit, which is 2808 
feet above the sea, and is spoken of " as a wilderness of 
monkeys." It is said by vulgar tradition to be from this 
hill, by a submarine passage, that the curious pink tailless 
apes, occasionally seen among the upper crags of Gib- 
raltar, find their way. Between Ceuta and Leona, the most 
northerly extremity of Africa, is Peregal Island, a small 
rocky mound of a mile in circuit and 244 feet high, also 
belonging to Spain, with a capacious cavern capable of 
sheltering two hundred soldiers. Still farther inland ex- 
tend the magnificent mountains of Morocco, rising crag 
above crag, till lost to human vision. These are the out- 
posts of the Moors, who, amidst ages of convulsion in every 
other country, are said to have retained their ancient habits 
and superstitions as inviolate as their lands. 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



429 



There was at one time a rumour that Spain wished to 
offer Great Britain these African possessions of hers in 
exchange for Gibraltar. It has already been shown that, 
notwithstanding the advantages of position the great rock 
possesses, as a commercial speculation it is a decided failure. 
But if we reflect that Ceuta has scarcely any harbour at all, 
that the little it possesses is unsafe, that the town and fortress 
are to a large extent manned by convicts and State prisoners, 
that the garrison required, numbers more than five thousand 
soldiers, that the Moors have always been hostile and have 




Fig. 84.— Cape Spartel, North-West Point of Morocco. 



made many attempts to recover it, and that the population 
is mainly very poor — it will be evident that, should a 
British Government ever have an idea of making such an 
exchange, it would be amidst the derisive laughter of the 
civilised world. 

As the entire length of the Straits of Gibraltar, from 
Cape Ceuta to Cape Spartel on the African coast, and from 
Europa Point, Gibraltar, to Cape Trafalgar on the coast of 
Spain, is only 36 miles, the distance is soon covered by a 
steamer; and the tourist from the east quickly reaches 
the north-west extremity of Morocco named Cape Spartel 



430 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR; 



(Fig. 84), the Baz-el-Skukkar of the Arabs, and imme- 
diately finds himself in the Atlantic Ocean, more or less 
near Cape Trafalgar. 

What memories the very mention of this headland 
awaken ! It is nothing to look at, only a low promontory 
situated nearly thirty miles west-north-west from Tarifa; 
but although insignificant in appearance, its name and the 
locality live imperishable in history, for was it not here 
that Nelson won his greatest naval victory, and yielded 
up his dauntless spirit? The action began on the 21st 
October, 1805, off this cape, where the combined French 
and Spanish fleets, consisting of thirty-three sail-of-the- 
line, five frigates, and two brigs, were attacked by a British 
squadron, mustering twenty-seven sail-of-the-line, four 
frigates and two small vessels. It was while bearing down 
upon the enemy that the celebrated signal was hoisted, 
" England expects every man to do his duty," in con- 
nection with which the following anecdote may not be much 
known : — When about to engage, Nelson said to Captain 
Blackwood of the " Victory," " We must give a fillip to the 
fleet. Suppose we say, Nelson expects every man to do his 
duty." At that moment, another officer standing near sug- 
gested the substitution of the word " England." " Certainly, 
certainly ! " replied the admiral ; and, thus modified and 
improved, the famous signal was accepted in a triplet of 
mighty cheers by the men of the entire fleet, as the ships 
sailed on in two lines to the fray. At the end of the 
struggle Cape Trafalgar was found to be distant south- 
east by east eight miles ; nineteen of the enemy's ships 
had been captured or destroyed, but the hero of the 
fight was dead ! His remains were afterwards interred 
in the Cathedral of St. Paul's, London, on the 9th January, 
1806. 

Scarcely has one's steamer got well away from this old 
scene of carnage, when the position of Cadiz is pointed out, 
an important commercial city of Andalusia, originally built 
by the Phoenicians 347 years before the first stone of Eome 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



431 



was laid, or about the year 1100 before Christ. Cadiz is 
thus one of the most ancient towns in Europe, and not 
unfitted to represent a locality whence (the little town of 
Palos not far off) Colombus set sail for the discovery of the 
New World, and to which he returned when his grand 
mission was fulfilled. The Phoenicians must have possessed 
shrewd eyes when fixing upon sites for their settlements, 
as in almost every case their chosen spots excited the 
covetousness of each succeeding conqueror, and Cadiz has 
proved no exception. Following the Phoenicians came the 
robbers of Carthage, who enjoyed their capture for a time. 
Presently came the turn of the Komans, under whom Gades, 
as they renamed the town, acquired immense importance 
and wealth. Next came the Goths, followed by the Moors, 
and from the latter it was torn by the warriors of Spain in 
1262. In 1596 it was pillaged and burned by Lord Essex, 
and unsuccessfully attacked by other English commanders 
in 1625 and in 1702. It was blockaded by the French in 
1810, but was released in 1812 by the effect of Wellington's 
victories. x\gain, in 1823, it fell before the arms of France, 
and was held until 1828, when it returned to the care of its 
present owners. 

The mere passer-by in a steamer has no opportunity of 
judging as to the superlative merits of its fair sex, so has to 
take Lord Byron's rhapsody on trust, when he says : — 

" Oh never talk again to me 

Of northern climes and British ladies, 
It has not been your lot to see 

Like me, the lovely girl of Cadiz. 
Although her eye be not of blue, 

Nor fair her locks, like English lasses, 
How far its own expressive hue 
The languid azure eye surpasses," 
etc., etc., etc. 

But of the beauty of the town where they live, as seen 
from the water, there can be no doubt. Being built of a 
peculiarly white stone, it has a bright and charming 
appearance ; and as the streets are said to be well -paved, 



432 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



clean, well-lighted, and regular, although narrow, it de- 
serves to be populated by the enchanting, dark-eyed beings 
of whom the poet so enthusiastically sings. 

It is more than probable that the traveller who leaves 
Gibraltar during the morning will not see much more of 
this part of the coast of Spain, or of Portugal either ; con- 
sequently, he will pass the bold headland called Cape St. 
Vincent during darkness. But should he be fortunate in 
securing daylight and fine weather, an inspection of this 
lone, romantic Portuguese promontory through his field- 
glass cannot but prove gratifying. It seems to stand out 
recklessly into the ocean, crowned by a fine lighthouse; 
and must prove of the utmost use to ships passing to or 
from the East, as at that south-western extremity of 
Portugal vessels change their course. The spot, history 
informs us, was held sacred by the Eomans. On the 
summit of the rock was at one time a kind of a Druidical 
circle, in which, Strabo states, the Iberians believed there 
was a nightly assembly of the gods. Naval annals also 
assign to this part of the coast another great victory to 
British ships, gained by Sir John Jervis, afterwards Earl 
St. Vincent, over a squadron of Spain on the 14th February, 
1797. During the partial obscurity of a fog, a Spanish 
fleet of twenty-five ships advanced upon a tempting prey 
of what they considered only nine British ships of war. As 
the mist cleared away, not nine, but fifteen were descried 
by the horrified Spaniards bearing down upon their loosely- 
arranged squadron ; and the result was confusion, disaster, 
and defeat. On this occasion, Nelson, then holding the rank 
of commodore, with his men boarded the " San Nicholas " 
through the cabin windows, and captured the ship, on which 
the "San Josef," alongside, volleyed upon the British. 
Nothing daunted, Nelson boarded this fresh antagonist, 
and had the rare good fortune to receive the swords of 
the vanquished of both ships upon the deck of one of 
their own finest vessels. 

Still sailing along the coast of Portugal, and obtaining 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



433 



frequent pretty glimpses, now of bold rocky bluffs, anon of 
densely-forested slopes, the eye of the tourist is sure to be 
attracted, as in his outward voyage, by the noble embouchure 
of the Tagus (Fig. 1). This opening in the coast-line occurs 
in the province of Estremadura, some few miles to the south- 
east of the picturesquely-situated town of Cintra. Nothing 
can be seen of Lisbon, however, as that eminently pictorial 
city lies about eighteen miles inland. Although invisible 
from the sea, yet the imagination of the passing traveller 
will certainly form some kind of picture of a town which 
has suffered so often from earthquakes, and of an engineer- 
ing triumph it contains which no volcanic convulsion has 
hitherto shaken. The great Alcantara aqueduct, finished in 
1743, supplies all the public fountains and wells of Lisbon. 
It is eighteen miles in length, and at one place towers 
two hundred and sixty feet above a valley it crosses, and 
is rightly considered the largest specimen of stone-bridge 
building at present in existence. Yet, during the terrible 
earthquake of 1755, which destroyed a great part of the city, 
and slew twenty thousand of its inhabitants, the Alcantara 
aqueduct was undisturbed. 

The small but charmingly-perched town of Cintra, lying 
fifteen miles west-north-west of Lisbon, is an object of 
interest, which the passenger, unless at night or during a 
fog, cannot miss. It was of this little earthly paradise that 
Lord Byron wrote to his mother in 1809 : — " To make amends 
for the fllthiness of Lisbon, and its still filthier inhabitants, 
the village of Cintra, about fifteen miles from the capital, 
is, perhaps, in every respect the most delightful in Europe. 
It contains beauties of every description, natural and 
artificial : palaces and gardens rising in the midst of rocks, 
cataracts, and precipices ; convents on stupendous heights ; 
a distant view of the sea and the Tagus ; and, besides 
(though that is a secondary consideration), is remarkable as 
the scene of Sir Hew Dalrymple's convention.* It unites in 

* It appears from Napier's ' History of the Peninsular War,' that in this 
statement Lord Byron was mistaken, as " the armistice, the negotiations, 

2 F 



434 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



itself all the wildness of the western Highlands with the 
verdure of the South of France." It was of the same 
locality that in ' Childe Harold's Pilgrimage ' he afterwards 
sang : — 

" The horrid crags, by toppling convent crown'd, 
The cork-trees hoar that clothe the shaggy steep, 
The mountain-moss by scorching skies imbrown'd, 
The sunken glen, whose sunless shrubs must weep, 
The tender azure of the unruffled deep, 
The orange tints that gild the greenest bough, 
The torrents that from cliff to valley leap, 
The vine on high, the willow branch below, 
Mix'd in one mighty scene, with varied beauty glow." 

Although the steamer passes the highly picturesque town 
of Oporto, which, coming next to Lisbon, is the most 
important in Portugal, the course is too far off for the 
slightest trace of its many towers and white-washed houses 
to be seen ; consequently, there is little to note, until the 
high land near Vigo Bay, and its little archipelago of tiny 
islets, is reached. 

Yigo is universally admitted to be one of the most 
beautifully-situated coast towns of Spain ; and its balmy 
climate : its wealth of orchards, orange-groves, palms, and 
flowers : its ancient walls, gates, tortuous streets, and 
picturesquely-clad peasantry, point it out as a*n eminently 
congenial spot for the temporary residence of the invalid, 
scholar, or artist. This pretty town has been so frequently, 
yet ineffectually, attacked by our ancestors — in 1585 and 
1589 by Drake ; by the Duke of Ormond, Eooke, and 
Stanhope in 1702; and in 1719 by Lord Cobham — that 
one cannot help thinking that envy of its loveliness, quite 
as much as political considerations, led them to covet 
its possession. The bay sweeps inwards for twenty miles, 
with a width of five miles at its mouth, over which the 
little town, of about 8000 inhabitants, looks down from its 



the convention itself, and the execution of its provisions were all com- 
menced, conducted, an 1 concluded at a distance of thirty miles from Cintra.'' 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



435 



slopes over as charming a semi-Oriental scene as can be 
found anywhere. 

Before the steamer reaches Cape Finisterre, the tourist is 
to some extent prepared for it by a sight of numerous 
mountain peaks in Galicia, particularly a commanding 
cone on the south-east, named Mount Tremuso. From this 
point Cape Finisterre (Fig. 85) is well in view, besides the 
whole of the grand panorama of rugged coast leading 
towards the headland. This cape, known to the ancients as 
the Promontorium Nerium, resembles nothing so exactly as 
an immense sleeping turtle reposing on the surface, with 
a massive lighthouse resting upon its head. The light is 




Fig. 85.— Cape Fintstf.rre. 



said to be 463 feet above the sea ; consequently, in foggy 
weather it can be of little use. Next comes Cape Torinana, 
with a background of imposing heights ; then the Camarinas, 
a range of mountains as if of chalk, with large portions of 
the surface gone, and the pure white formation exposed ; 
after which is Cape Villano (Fig. 86), the south-eastern 
extremity of the dreaded Bay of Biscay. Looking back 
from this point, the last glimpse of Cape Finisterre is 
obtained, which by this time has lost much of its turtle- 
like appearance, in consequence of the interposition of an 
island of small dimensions, but considerable height. 

" On, on the vessel flies, the land is gone, 
And winds are rude, in Biscay's sleepless hay," 

2 F 2 



436 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR; 



we passengers might have said with Byron during the 
Sabbath morning upon which the " Kedar " began her run 
of nearly four hundred miles across this vast gulf, whose 
normal state of turbulence has never been quite satis- 
factorily accounted for. It is represented by experts that 
the prevalent north-west wind drives before it huge volumes 
of water from the Atlantic, which are presently tossed back 
from the long regular line of coast towards the central 
portion. This process causes great commotion with high, 
short, and broken waves, accentuated by a stream named 




Fig. 86.— Cape Villano, four miles distant. 



Kennel's Current, which, sweeping in from the ocean round 
the north of Spain, brushes along the west and north-west 
coasts of France, then, passing over the British Channel, 
embraces the Scilly Isles, approaches the shores of Ireland, 
and after another twist joins what is called the North 
African Stream. 

The turbulence, however, on the present occasion did not 
continue ; and ere the bell tolled for morning service, the 
usually crested billows had subsided to a gentle ripple, and 
the sun went down in the evening in an indescribable glow 
of splendour, such as no painting could imitate. Whether 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



437 



it was the beauty of the sky, the mildness of the evening, 
the winning words of the young clergyman who officiated, 
or the joyous sense of approaching home, it is impossible 
now to say ; but the feelings of all the passengers seemed 
as it were simultaneously to seek a vent in song. Hymn- 
books of various denominations were furbished out of 
trunks ; the hesitancy and bashfulness, characteristic of the 
travelling Briton on such occasions, were speedily overcome ; 
one voice, and then another were raised, until not only those 
on the saloon-deck, but the officers not on duty, the 
engineers, and some of the crew swelled the chorus, and 
added to the grand volume of sound. 

It is rarely, however, that unalloyed pleasure can be 
enjoyed in this world of change for any lengthened period 
without compensating pain ; for with the shades of evening 
came masses of fleecy vapour, which, gradually acquiring 
density, entirely shut out the stars, and rendered rapid 
progress somewhat of a risk. As the night wore on, the 
bell was loudly tolled, and the steam- whistle blown at 
intervals ; and although ten o'clock had been* our usual 
hour for retiring, not an eye was closed, or a berth occupied 
at midnight. There is something so strangely exciting in 
finding one's self in the midst of a fog at sea in a frequented 
part of the ocean, that sleep is impossible. The bell and 
the whistle sound, and are answered by other bells and 
other .whistles, sirens, and fog-horns, seemingly at enormous 
distances away, and yet, perhaps, within a quarter of a mile 
of the roused listener. For a moment, it may be, the 
mist clears away sufficiently to show the stem of a vast 
ocean steamer coming straight towards you, her red and 
green lights gleaming out of the fog, and her whistle 
shrieking like an angry, malevolent demon, hissing out his 
rage ere he hastens to your destruction. Or it may be there 
is a huge, four-masted immigrant ship, crossing the bow, and 
only seen in time to avert a terrible collision. The danger 
presents itself in different forms in varying circumstances ; 
and it says much for the skill, the caution, and the splendid 
presence of mind characteristic of our merchant seamen, 



438 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOE ; 



that so few accidents on much-frequented water-routes 
occur. 

Shortly after midnight, an order from the bridge, to 
increase the speed, gave confidence to the passengers that 
the sea ahead was comparatively clear, and in shorter time 
than it takes to tell it, the saloon and deck were deserted, 
and soon all were asleep. 

Whether stormy or not, there is always a feeling of relief 
in the breast of the landsman when the Bay of Biscay has 
been safely crossed, and its north-eastern extremity, the 
French island of Ouessant (Ushant) gained. This, the 
largest of a little group of rocky islets, lies off the French 
Cape Finisterre (a Latin word, signifying " Land's End "), 
covers an area of seven square miles, and supports a fishing 
and cattle-rearing population of about 2309. 

From Ushant the course is clear across the mouth of the 
English Channel to the Scilly Islands, lying some little 
distance off Land's End, and Lizard Point in Cornwall. 
With the exception of the Channel Islands, these are the 
most southern portions of the United Kingdom, and are 
noted for the large quantity of potatoes they produce, and 
send to the Bristol and London markets. There are some 
forty islets altogether in the group, within a circuit of about 
thirty miles. To the ancients they were known as Cas- 
siterides, Hesperides, and Silura? Insulse, and were used 
in Boman times as shipping places for tin, whence it was 
conveyed by the Cornwall miners. Six only of the islands 
are at present inhabited, the chief being St. Mary's ; while 
St. Agnes, three miles distant, is the most important to 
seamen, having a revolving light perched seventy-eight feet 
above the sea, visible at a distance of eighteen miles. It was 
upon one of the Scilly Islands that on the 22nd October. 
1707, the distinguished British admiral, Sir Cloudesley 
Shovel, was wrecked. His ship, the " Association," and 
several others struck, and the crews all perished. The 
body of the admiral was afterwards recovered, and was 
buried in Westminster Abbey. 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



439 



Should the tourist escape the fogs, which so often pre- 
vail near those islands, Land's End, the Cape Finisterre 
of England, may possibly be dimly seen, and his eyes 
and field-glass will find ample practice roaming over the 
wide expanse. The district is specially interesting to the 
geologist from the strong likelihood, existing in many 
minds, that the Scilly Islands and the termination of 
Cornwall were once, at no very remote period, united. 
Tradition, indeed, asserts that between Mounts Bay and the 
Scilly group, woods, meadows, arable land, and one hundred 
and forty parish churches have been swallowed up by the 
sea, so that disestablishment and disendowment on a scale 
of some magnitude in England is of older date than 
politicians imagine. 

Turning from the south-east to the north-west, the eye 
will now rest upon Cape Clear, an elevated bluff rising 
more than 400 feet above the sea, and crowned by a 
lighthouse exhibiting an intermittent flash at an altitude 
of 455 feet. This is a well-known land-mark for vessels, 
and is the most southerly point of Ireland. In old ecclesi- 
astical books this point is named " Insula Sancta Clara," 
and in ancient Irish manuscripts " Inish Damhly " ; and 
doubtless in the rough old days of buccaneering this island, 
only three miles long, and one mile and a half wide, must 
have afforded a safe retreat to the O'Driscolls, who, in 
the security of their stronghold, are said to have been as 
hospitable as on the sea they were dangerous. Could these 
lively rovers have opened their eyes upon the scene of their 
many illegal marine operations, and seen some of the 
magnificent British war-ships encased in armour (Fig. 87), 
cruising this misty morning in St. George's Channel after 
their evolutions in Bantry Bay (so to speak, only round the 
corner), they would have stared with wonder, particularly 
at one stately monster with four masts gliding along with 
the air of a monarch of both winds and waves. 

The " Kedar " was now merrily screwing her way across 
the mouth of the Bristol Channel, or estuary of the river 



440 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



Severn ; an inlet worth noting, as it is the largest in Britain, 
having a coast-line of 220 miles. As this vast gulf, of 
eighty miles in length and forty-eight miles at its greatest 
breadth, receives the fluid contributions of ten considerable 
rivers, besides many smaller streams, and as the tide rises 
with great rapidity to heights between forty and seventy feet, 
the opposing forces produce the curious, but sometimes 
awkward, phenomenon called the " bore," a wall of water from 
six to nine feet high, which travels to considerable distances 
with more or less speed, and severely tests the toughness of 
the cables of ships moored in the line of its progress. The 
power of a " bore " will be better understood when it is 




Fig. 87.— Irish Coast and Cape Clear. 



mentioned that the one which regularly occurs in the 
Hoogly branch of the Ganges, travels seventy miles in four 
hours. 

The Bristol Channel having been crossed, the deeply- 
indented coast of Pembrokeshire comes into view with its 
magnificent Milford Haven, a harbour allowed to be un- 
equalled by any other in the world. This is an irregular, 
twisted estuary, which, with a depth of fifteen to nineteen 
fathoms and breadth of one to two miles, penetrates the land 
as far as Langwin, a distance of seventeen miles, and is 
capable of sheltering the entire British fleet. True, this fine 
harbour of refuge is somewhat out of the track of the com- 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



441 



merce of the Thames, and, as a naval depot and ship-building 
port, may probably be more open to attack than such a station 
as Sheerness. Whatever may have been the reasons which 
actuated our authorities to remove much of the naval work 
from the locality, such was done in 1814, much to the 
detriment of the town of Pembroke. If liability to attack 
was the only reason for the change, surely something 
might have been done for the efficient protection of a 
refuge which, in the hands of any other nation of Europe, 
would long ago have been rendered impregnable. 

St. David's Head, a high rugged promontory, the west- 
most point in Wales, will now have been reached. It is 
opposite to and distant from a corresponding projection on 
the Wexford coast named Carnsore, about fifty miles. The 
town of St. Davids, two miles inland, in the Middle Ages, 
was large and important, being the goal of continual 
pilgrimages to the shrine of the saint. This holy in- 
dividual seems to have lived and been the bishop of 
Caerleon, as well as the Metropolitan of the Welsh church, 
in the fifth century. To him has been attributed the 
origination of the leek as a Welsh symbol; but other 
historians repudiate this assertion, and say that it arose 
from the custom, still to some extent maintained, of the 
neighbours of a small farmer assembling on a special day 
to plough his land, and each fetching with him a quota of 
leeks for the broth- pot. Although the once flourishing 
town has now diminished to a small village, it still offers 
some great attractions to the pilgrim with a portfolio or 
note-book in its fine cathedral, remains of ecclesiastical 
residences, and other objects of interest. 

The channel now bulges out into such breadth that little, 
even in the finest weather, can be seen from the deck of 
an incoming steamer, until Cardigan Bay has been left 
behind, when the island of Anglesea, the smaller isle off its 
western side, and the stack rocks become visible. A little 
further on, the intelligent tourist, with a taste for 
engineering works of some magnitude, will doubtless keep 



442 PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA All NOP ; 



peering in a north-easterly direction up the Menai Strait, 
which separates Anglesea from the mainland of Carnarvon, 
in hopes of catching a glimpse of Stephenson's magnificent 
Britannia tnbular bridge. This daring series of four great 
spans over the strait, at the height of 102 feet above high- 
water mark, is still worthy of attention on account of its 
vast dimensions, and as being the first effort of the kind 
ever attempted. It was commenced in the spring of 1846 
for the directors of the Chester and Holyhead Kailway, and 
in less than five years was triumphantly completed, 12,000 
tons of iron, fastened together by 2,000,0'JO of rivets, 
having been used. 




Fig. 88.— The Pilot Boat. Point Lynus, Anglesea. 



Anglesea, spelt by the Saxons "Angle's Ey," or the 
Englishman's island, measures about twenty miles one way 
by seventeen miles the other, and is associated in modern 
minds chiefly with the principal seat of ancient Druiclical 
superstition. Being sandy, peaty, and almost devoid of forests, 
in addition to being comparatively flat, it presents no happy 
hunting-ground for the artist ; and beyond some cromlechs, 
and the remains of a Roman camp, offers but small induce- 
ment to the antiquary. Holyhead Island lies to the w T est 
of Anglesea; but the name "island" has some years ago 
ceased to be applicable, since it is connected by a causeway 
and embankments, arched in the centre (over which the 



OB, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT. 



443 



Holyhead road, and the Chester and Holyhead Kailway 
pass) with the former. The North and South Stack isles 
are on the north-west coast — the latter joined to Holyhead 
by means of a suspension bridge; the former detached, 
and carrying a light visible at twenty miles' distance. 

Once fairly round these crags, and sailing along the north 
side of Anglesea, the voyage is practically over, as a pilot 
and customs' officers come on board at Point Lynus (Fig. 88) ; 
the captain is relieved of the chief responsibility ; the 
passengers go through the process of having their effects 
searched by the guardians of the revenue ; in a few hours 
the ship is safely moored in one of the docks at Liverpool ; 
and, after kindly adieux all round, the erewhile " compagnons 
de voyage " separate to return to their own homes. 



444 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR ; 



EPILOGUE. 

The persevering reader, who, in his comfortable fireside 
easy-chair, has perused the foregoing pages, will have, in 
imagination, been conveyed over a stretch of fully seven 
thousand five hundred miles. He has been introduced in 
an unpretending manner to much that is deeply interesting 
in regions rendered famous by both Scriptural and classical 
authors. Some characteristic features of parts of Europe, 
Mediterranean Africa, and Asia Minor have been sketched, 
with the pen and pencil of an amateur it may be, yet with 
the resolve to 

" Nothing extenuate, 
Nor set down aught in maliee." 

An attempt has been made to emancipate the narrative 
from the old worn-out rut of the mere diary, and equally 
to eschew the twaddle and gossip of ship-board and the 
caravansary. 

Among the objects which actuated the writer's journey was 
the one alluded to towards the end of the Prologue, namely, 
that of being enabled to judge personally, whether or not 
the long-continued and much-dreaded silkworm maladies 
had yet been brought under human control by one of the 
most successful silk-farmers of Asia Minor. This inquiry 
was triumphantly answered in the affirmative. Another 
object was the acquisition of additional information of a 
practical nature regarding the newest and best methods of 
conducting silk-farming, from the planting of the mulberry 
to the harvesting of the silk crop ; a quest which may also 
be said to have met with success. The season proved 
entirely propitious ; the people — natives and foreigners of 
all ranks and conditions — were kindly, hospitable, and well- 



OR, NOTES FROM THE LEVANT 



445 



disposed to assist in every way ; the Government officials 
showed friendliness and appreciation of the writer's objects ; 
nothing was wanting to render the mission both instructive 
and agreeable. 

Under such favourable circumstances it is to be hoped 
that something has been chronicled likely to prove useful 
to future sericulturists in New Zealand, other British posses- 
sions, and elsewhere, connected with an ancient and once 
lucrative industry, moribund for more than quarter of a 
century through the effects of refractory disease, yet, under 
the untiring patience and fostering care of a distinguished 
Englishman of Smyrna, now rapidly recovering its former 
vigour there. 

The feeling of uncertainty connected with the future 
of silk-farming having thus to some extent been alleviated, 
and the missing link for New Zealand, so to speak, supplied, 
there seems no further reason, after the Colonial Govern- 
ment shall have once more given the matter some additional 
consideration, why the combined industries of tea- and silk- 
production in the north of Auckland, and elsewhere in the 
islands, should not be commenced and prosecuted upon 
a scale of magnitude commensurate with their importance 
and national value. 

A little may also have been accomplished by way of 
showing that the Turks of the present epoch are no longer 
proud of being reckoned the type of old-world inertia, nor 
are content to remain stationary, while the other nations 
move ever onwards ; and that the Greeks of Asia Minor not 
only aim at, but are rapidly realising, their long-delayed 
dream of emulating the educational, and in some sense, the 
literary and artistic achievements $f their renowned ancestry 
of the Morea. 

For the sake of future travellers, requiring a change of 
scene and climate for a few months, and desirous of combin- 
ing a little mild and innocent excitement with a maximum 
of information and enjoyment, it may be added in conclu- 
sion, that a health-holiday formed a prominent aim of the 



446 



PEN AND PENCIL IN ASIA MINOR. 



passengers who accompanied the writer from Liverpool via 
Smyrna to Constantinople, and back. They left home 
jaded, worn with work or society, dull-eyed, leaden-footed, 
and spiritless ; they returned refreshed, renewed in every 
fibre, lively, brisk, and mercurial, ready to confront and 
tackle any duty or hardship the approaching winter might 
bring. Finis coronat opus. 

William Cochran. 

Overdale, Dunblane, 

Perthshire, 20th June, 1887. 



INDEX. 



A. 



Abdul Aziz, 214, 301 
Abdul Mijid, 344 
Abercrombie's tomb, Malta, 30 
Abyla, south Pillar of Hercules, 428 
Abysmal depth at Karavi, 39 
Accidental flacker ie, 192 
Achmet Klazini Effendi, 167 
Acropolis, Nympbio, 78 ; Philadelphia, 

383 ; Sardis, 379 
Activity of male silk moths, 151 
Adra, 417 

Adrianople, 292, 321, 322, 323 
Ariatic, 406 

Advantages of pierced papers, 92 
Advice to hard workers, 1 
^Egean Sea, 210, 324, 326 

Islands, 344, 398-402 

iEsculapius, 371 
^Esop, 379 
African coast, 10, 14 
Africanus and Asiaticus, 374 
Agamemnon's Baths (Smyrna,) 44, 331 
Ages and moults of silkworms, 116-125 
Agha, Ali, and brigands, 348 
Agdculture around Smyrna, 209 
Agricultural machinery, 240, 385 
Agridagh volcano, 210, 302 , 
Aguglia (Galata Islands), 17, 413 
Aidii, 133, 210, 213, 216, 221, 230, 

238, 327, 330, 341, 357 
Ailan thus-fed silkworms, 61 
Airiness and purity in sericulture, 87 
Ak-Hissar (Thyatira), 373 
Aladin, Sultan, 55, 383 
Alascheir , 53, 85, 220, 221, 231, 210, 

328 

Alexander the G reat, 53 

, Prince, 310, 324 

Alexandra Dock, Liverpool, 2 
Alexandria, 369 
Alexandroff, Dr., 396 
, Constantine, 396 



Albanian costume, 352 

Album of brigands, 356 

A lcaeus (Sappho's lover), 325 

Alcantara aqueduct, 433 

Aleppo, 342 

Alfonso XI., 427 

Alfred, Prince, at Malta, 26 

Algerian heights, 16; Pirates, 416 

Algeciras, 417, 426, 427 

Ali Agha, 348 

Allowances of silkworm eggs to edu- 
cators, 51 

Almeria mountains, etc., 14, 415, 416 

Almond cultivation, 211 

Almoravide princes, 421 

Alteras, Salomon, 343 

Alyattis of Lydia, 53, 378 

Ambassadorial and official residences, 
291, 298, 311 

American missionary at Athens, 137 

Amphitheatre of Pergamos, 372 

Amusing court scenes, 227, 228 

Andalusia, 430 

Anadolu Hissar, 308, 309, 311 

Anatola (Bosphorus), 300, 312 

Anatolian Peninsula, 336 

Anchorage in Bosphorus, best, 312 

Ancient frescoes, Malta, 26 

Andrea, Captain (a brigand), 318, 319, 
356 

Andronichus the younger, 77 
Andros island, 398, 399 
Anecdotes of brigands, 346-354 
Angelo, Fort (Malta), 22, 30 

Cape (Malea), 37 

Anglesea Island, 442 

Animated spectres, 383 

Anna, Mount St., 401 

Anniversary, Greek independence, 132, 

Antioch in Caria, 239 

Antigones, 53 

Antiochus the Great, 255, 374, 380, 
390 

Antiquity of carpet weaving, 98 
Antony and Cleopatra, 372 
Apelles, b'rthplace of, 401 



448 



INDEX. 



Apes' Hill (Ceuta), 428 
Aphorisms from the Koran, 167 
Apocalyptic churches, 328, 358 
Apostrophe to a steward, 7 
Appliances for the nursery, 88-97 
Arapene silkworms, 261 
Archimedes, 200 

Archipelago, 37-43, 270, 319, 320, 322 

Ardyes of Lydia, 378 

Aries, magnanerie at, 186 

Armenian gentleman and brigand, 347 

patriarch, 35 1 

Armonia newspaper, 396 

Armour-clad- ships, Turkish, 316 

Arrangement for heating the mag- 
nanerie, 87 

for microscopic examina- 
tion, 202 

of brushwood for the silk- 
worm, 127 
Artaxerxes, 237 

Artillery guarding the Dardanelles, 
272 

guarding Smyrna, 43 

ArundelCKev. V, S., 239, 242, 248, 
250 

Asia Minor, extent of, 210 
Asopus, river, 390 
Aspect of Smyrna streets, 367 
Atche and Nazli, 239 
Athenians, 220, 400 
Athens, 325 ; Parthenon at, 360 ; Gulf 
of, 402 

Atmospheric effects, 13, 15, 270, 436 
Attacus cynthia, 64 
Attalus Philadelphus, 371, 382 
Augustine, St., 16 
Aurelius, Marcus, 365, 366 
Austrian railways, 322 
Available labour, Aidin, 216 
Average planting distance, mulberries, 
65 

Ayasouluk, 233, 330 
Azizieh and Balachik, 236 



B. 

Baba Cape (Troad), 271 
Bacchus, 338, 398 
Bacchylides, birthplace of, 401 
Backbone of the Levant, 133 
Bacon, Lord Keeper, ^22 
Backsheesh, 367 

Badly-shaped cocoons rejected for re- 
production, 148 

Bad roads of Asia Minor, 85 

Bairaktar, Mustapha, 341 

Bagdad graine, 153 ; moths, 153, 266 ; 
worms, 259 



Bajazet, Sultan, 383 

Balearic Islands, 415 

Balkan Peninsula, 323 

Ballads and rhymes, 4, 7, 13, 23, 55, 

57, 169, 301, 311, 403, 407, 434, 435, 

444 

Bantry Bay, 439 
Barbarossa, Emperor, 256, 391 
Barley fields, 2S6, 255 
Basilica and bridges of Pergamos, 371, 
372 

Basilius, Archbishop of Smyrna, 135, 

396 

Bas-relief of Barneses II., 79, 84 

Basting a young smoker, 334 

Baths, Agamemnon's, 44, 331 ; Diana's, 

53, 331, 337 
Bay of Biscay, 8, 10, 435; Bay and 

Gulf of Smyrna, 43, 172, 215, 270, 

326, 331 

Bazaars, Constantinople, 287 ; Smyrna, 

328 ; Syra, 40 
Begging impostors, 216 
Begonia chica, 64 
Beico's district, brigands in, 351 
Belcafe, military station, 77 
Belerma town, 416, 417 
Belgrade, 313, 322 
Beliefs about silkworms, 186, 187 
Belo Puolo Island, 39, 402 
Belus, King of Tyre, 415 
Benefactors of Greek institutions, 139, 

140 

Berlingas islands, 8 

Best food for silkworms, 69 

Best way of heating a nursery, 87 

Bigotry at Malta, 29 

Bird, Miss, on silk, 114 ; Birds, oak- 
tree-planters, 54 

Birth of Little Earthquake, 397 

Bismark, Prince, 211 

Black Death, The, 222 

mailing, 354 

Osmans, 55, 58, 219, 220 

Sea, 300, 301, 303, 305, 312 

sheep, Laodicean, 390 

Blackler, Mr. & Mrs. ( Smyrna), 396 

Blackwood, Captain, 430 

Blighting effect of Mobammtdism, 20 

Boat, story of a ricketty, 225 

Bon, Cape, 411, 412 

Bon, M. and Mm.,. 396 

Bookbinding at Polytechnic, Smyrna, 
171 

Boreas, rude 4 ; and Neptune, 406 
Bore, Lake, 323, 324 
Bore of the Severn and Hnogly, 440 
Bosphorus, the, 279, 288-291, 300 
315 

Botrytis, Bassiana, 197 



INDEX. 



449 



Boudjah, 331, 332 

Bournabat, sericulture at, 48, 73, 76, 

86, 257-268 
— near site of ancient Smyrna, 

52 

near Lake Tantalus, 335 

Brazier for heating morns, 50, 2>>1 
Breeds of silkworms, Mr. Griffitt's, 259 
Brigade, fire, Smyrna, 225 
Brigandage in Asia Minor, 219, 221, 

340-357 
Bristol Channel, 439, 440 
Britannia tubular bridge, 442 
Bronze twisted column from Ephesus, 

286 

Broussa, 292, 296, 

Brushwood for silkworms, 265 

Bride of Abydos, Byron's, 55 

Buckukgee (a brigand), 350 

Buffaloes, 232 

Bulair military lines, 274 

Bulgaria, 323, Bulgarians, 246 

Bullones (Apes' Hill), 428 

Byron on Bay Oglou, 55 ; Cadiz girl, 

431 ; Cintra, 434 
Euxine breakers, 301 ; La 

Valette, 23 
Bvrsa (Carthage), 415 
Byzantine ruins, 77, 82, 233, 332, 336 



C. 

Cabbirt, adoration of the, 321 
Cabinet-making, Polytechnic, Smyrna, 
170 

Cadiz, 426, 430, 431 

Cadmus, Mount, 213, 240, 245, 390; 

River, 390 
Csp.rleon, bishop of, 441 
Csesar, Tiberius, 380 
Calcinetto, silkworm mildew, 197 
Camarinas mountains, 435 
Camels, 59, 368 
Canary seed, 319 * 
Candia island (Crete), 35, 36, 406 
Cannon and powder works (Makri 

Kiva), 319 
Capture of Captain Andrea, 348; of 

Smyrna merchants by brigands, 353 
Caramoussal, girl stealing from, 351 
Cardigan Bay, 441 
Caira, 239 

Carisman Oglou, 55, 58, 219, 220 
Carnsore, 441 

Carpets, Turkey, 85, 98-106 

, India and Tunis. 98 

— , European, 99 

, Story of a prayer carpet, 104 

Carthage, 17, 374, 412, 415, 431 



Caspian Sea, 303 

Cassite rides (Scilly Isles), 438 

Catterdjee Janni (a brigand), 336, 348 

Cattle tax, 220 

Causes of brigandage, 341 

— silkworm diseases, 179-186, 

192-198 
Caution to tourists, 58 
Caves in Cerigo island (porphyry), 35 
Caycus river, 330 
Cayster river, 233, 360 
Celaenae of Phrygia, 239 
Central Asia, the mulberry in, 68 
Cephalonia island, 216; steamer, 3 
Cereal growing, 100, 211, 236, 238, 239 
Cerberus, 318 

Cerigo island (Cythera), 34, 35 
Cesarea, 348 

Cession of Bessarabia by the Turks, 
342 

Cetius, river, 369 

Ceuta fortress, 428 

Chamberlain and Wolff, 311 

Chandler on the Niobe, 57 

Charles V. of Spain, 414 

Chemeh village, 365 

Cherry orchards, 77, 211 

Chester and Holyhead Railway, 442 

Chestnut forests, 400 

Chief of the Cyclades (Syra), 42 

Chiefte Kiosk village, 239 

Chief litterateur of Turkey (Kemal 

Bey), 214 
Chighily village, 54 
Childe Harold, 434 
Chille (a brigand district), 351 
China, an old silk producer, 66 
Chinese sericultural precautions, 186 

silkworm management, 113 

Chobanissa village, 60, 219, 220 

Cholera in Smyrna, 136 

Christacki, Alexander (Smyrna), 140 

396 

Elia (Constantinople), 369 

Churcb of St. John (Malta), 27 
Chrysalis, a dissected, 1 95 

, ferments from stomach of a, 

194 

Chrysopolis (Skutari), 304 
Cimmerians, 220 
Cintra, 9, 433 
Circassian brigand, a, 351 
Citta Yecchia (Malta), 28 
Clarke, Mr., Smyrna, 396 
Clear, Cape, 439 
Clubs of Smyrna, 47 
Cobham, Lord, 434 

Cochran, family reminiscences, 141- 
143 

Cockerell, Mr., 250 

2 G 



450 



INDEX. 



Cocoons, colour, when known, 121 

, varied by feeding, 64 

, for reproduction, 147, 149 

, gathering, 129 

, steamer for, 94 ; steaming, 266 

, weights of, compared, 108,267 

Cogamus river, 38 1 

Coins of Turkey, 218 

College, Roberts', on Bosphorus, 308 

Colonna, Cape, 401 

Colonnade at Hierapolis, 251 

Colophon, an Ionian city, 232 

Colos^e, 389, 391 

Colour of silkworm eggs, lf>3 

Colours used in Turkey carpets, 1 02 

Columbus, 431 

Commencement of sericulture in France, 
175 

Commercial, and reproductive grain, 

185, 186 
Confederated brigands, 346, 353 
Consignment of graine, 155 
Constantinople, 280-293 
Consular buildings, 297, 298 
Contagious flacherie, 190 
Coral fisheries, 413 
Cordelio, 53, 331 

Corpuscles under the microscope, 180, 
181, 2l)4 

, method of counting, 205 

Corpusculous malady, 179-188 

worm, segment of, 185 

Cossyra (Pantellaria island), 18, i 9 
Cost of Turkish Hospital, 168 
Coupling silkworm moths, 151 
Courtesy of Turkish authorities, 47 
Crater-lake (Pantellaria island), 19 
Crete island, 36, 399, 406 
Crimean war, 341 
Croesus, King, 53, 378, 380 
Crusaders, 309 
Cuddies an' grapes, 19 
Culmination of the silk trade, 1 77 
Cultivation of mulberries in China, 66 

at Bournabat, 

69 

Cunard Mediterranean steamers, 1, 2, 

4, 11, 269, 319, 3*7 
Cuttings, management of mulberry, 69 
Cvaxeres of Medea, 378 
Cybele, temple of the, 379 
Cyclades islands, 398 
Cyclopean remains (Bournabat), 52 
Czar of Russia, 310 



D 

Dalrymple, Sir Hew, 433 
Dancing dervishes, 329, 365 



Danger of pebrine, 185 
Dangers of a fog, 34, 437 
Danger to one's ears, 58 
Danube river, 321 
Dardanelles, 271-274, 301, 319 
Darius, 220, 309, 380 
Davids Htad, St., 441 
Deaconesses' Institution (Smyrna), 297, 
339 

Dead Sea, 302, 303 
Debemardi on sericulture, 113 
Decline and revival of sericulture at 

Smyrna, 258 
Decrease in quantity of silk harvests, 

177 

De'de Agatch (Roumelia), 320-324 
Deepest part of the Mediterranean, 
415 

De Gata, Cape, 415, 416 

Delaying incubation by use of ice, 66 

Delphic Oracle, 380 

Delphi, Mount (Negropont island), 399 

Department of State, Washington, 107 

Deserter male moths, 152 

Destroying life in the cocoon, 266 

Detail of Mr. Grifiitt's sericultural 

system, 115-131 
Diakos, Pope, 133 
Diana's Bath, 53, 331, 337 

Temple at Ephesus, 233, 360 

Diaries, Keeping, 11, 21, 46, 318, 404 
Dice, invention of, at Sardis, 379 
Dido, Queen, 415 

Difference between male and female 

cocoons, 147 
Differences in sericultural management 

reconciled, 114 
Difficulties of different silk seasons, 

264 

Dignitaries of the Greek Church 

(Smyrna), 135 
Dimensions of silkworm frames and 

stands, 92 
Dinner-table scene, 11 
Diospolis (Laodicea), 255, 390 
Discovery of white marble at Ephesus, 

361 

Diseased and dead cocoons, 130 
Diseases of silkworms, 174, 186, 187 
in Italy and 

France, 65 
Disestablishment at the Scilly Isles, 

439 

Dissecting a chrysalis, 195 
Distances apart for mulberry trees, 65, 
67 

Distribution of silkworm eg°:s, 49, 258 
Divine service on board ship, 19, 319, 
436 

Djumovassi and Develikeuy, 231 



INDEX. 



451 



Dock scenes, 2, 443 

Doctor incendiary, a, 224 

Dolina Bagtehe (Bosphorus), 304, 305 

Domestic fowls fed with male silkworm 

moths, 152 
Don John of Austria, 414 
Donkeys, 244, 2b5, 367 
Doro Channel, 399, 400 
Double cocoons, inft rior, 148 
Dragoman, the, 222 
Dragut Point, Malta, 22 
Drake, Admiral, 434 
Dramatic story of two missionaries, 144 
Drebbel, Cornelius, 200 
Driscolls, the O', 439 
Drome silkworms, 112 
Dry mulberry leaves for fe< ding, 110 
Ducas, John (Greek General), 383 
Dumas, M., 178 
Dust-infecting experiment, 183 

, mulberry leaf, 73 

Dyeing at Thyatira, 374 

— yarn for Turkey carpets, 102 



E. 

Eakly Eising, 10 

Ears, danger of losin_ r one's, 58 

Earthquake, Little, 397 

Earthquakes, Anatolian Peninsula, 
365 ; Ancient, 255, 382 ; Colossae, 
389: Constantinople, 284; Hiera- 
polis, 389 ; Khios Island, 325 ; Lao- 
dicea, 389 ; Lisbon, 433 ; Sardis and 
other cities, 380 ; Scriptural, 302 ; 
Smyrna, 365 

Easter in the Greek Church, 137 

Eastern Question, a solution of the, 
303 

Eating powers of the silkworm, 110- 
113, 126 

Economo (Governor) of the Greek Hos- 
pital, Smyrna, 136 

Educating the silkworm, 50; 87, 107- 
131, 257-2H8; general ins' ructions, 
108-110; detailed instructions, 115- 
131 ; for graine only, 263 ; for silk 
alone, 259 ; rooms, 264 

Educational grants, 297 

Edward III., 427 

Edwards, Mr. (Constantinople), 396 
Eels, mudlarks groping for, 53 
Effects of the silkworm maladies, 257 

of sunrise at Malta, : 2 

Egg-and-dart ornament at Hierapolis, 
250 

Eggs (silkworm), consignment of, 155 ; 
extraordinary hunt for, 177 ; pi\ serv- 
ing, 154; removing, 153 



Elements of brigandage, 341, 345 

Elena Point (Spain), 417 

Elias, Mount (Morea), 32, 35 

Eliot, General, 422 

Elmo, Fort St. (Malta), 22 

Emir, Aalem (village), 54 

Emperor Napoleon and Pasteur, 257 

Hoang-Ti (China), 66 

Encampment of camels, 59, 60 
Enceinte women and sericulture, 186 
Endurance of silkworm education, 111, 

1 14 259 
English Channel, 438 
Ensilage of mulberry leaves, 73 
Entrance to the Black Sea, 312 

Dardanelles, 271 

Ephesen, 348 

Ephesus, as a cemetery, 362 ; black art 
at, 363; decline and fall of, 363; 
how to reach the ruins, 330 ; legend 
of discovery of white marble at, 361 ; 
obliteration of the harbour of, 364; 
once a haunt of brigands, 344; the 
ruins of, 362 ; some account of, 359 ; 
the temple of Diana, 360 

Epilogue, 444 

Epitome of modern Greek history, 134 
Equalising silkworms artificially, 117 
Eruption, Mount Gnardia, 18 
I ski-Hissar (Laodicea ;, 254, 390 
Essex, Lord, 431 
Estremadura, 433 
Etna, Mount, 20 

Etudes sur la Maladie des Vers a 

Soie-Pasteur, 86 
Euboea (Negropont inland), 398, 3 9 
Eudon river, 239 

Eumenes II. of Pergamos, 369, 370 
Euphrates and Bagdad silkworms, 259 
Europa Point (Gibraltar), 418 
Euxiue (Black Sea), 300, 301, 303, 3C5 
Evangelus, 361 

Examining cocoons for sex, 149 

microscopically, 185, 201 

Execution by a Black Osman, 56 
Experiments with infection, 182 
Exploding a powder magazine, 398 
Extent of Asia Minor, 210 
Eyob, 291, 316, 317 

F. 

Facltious Brigands, 350 
Fahrenheit's thermometer, 115 
Falconera island, 39 
Father of History, 378 
Features of Asia Minor, 210 
Feeding space required by silkworms. 
93, 264 

Feeling caused by a sirocco, 16 

2 g 2 



452 



INDEX. 



Fellow-passengers, 3-13, 19, 21, 23, 30, 
32, 46, 270, 280, 300, 308, 316, 318, 
397, 402, 409, 424, 425, 443 

Female moths sedate and phlegmatic, 
151 

Fenwick, Captain, 2 

Ferdinand, palace of King, 9 

Ferro, Cape, 17, 413 

Feverish localities, 54, 233, 324, 338 

Fez, kingdom of, 15 

Fig cultivation, 49, 211, 238 

Finisterre, Cape, 435, 439 

Fire-raisers (Smyrna), 222-229 

First bishop of Smyrna, 366 

Episcopal church in Malta, 29 

French mulberry tree, 175 

issue of gold and silver coinage, 

379 

Greek President, 135 

■ Parliament of Queen Elizabeth, 

222 

Flacherie, Mr. Griffitt's observations 
and experiments on, 87, 188-196 

how to reduce the risk of 

catching, 162 

microscopic and physiologi- 
cal revelations of, 188-196 

moths most liable to catch, 

148 

Pasteur's observations and 

experiments on, 188, 192 

tribute to Pasteur's inves- 
tigations into, 86 

Floss-silk, 266 

Fog-horns, sirens, and steam-whistles, 

3 33 437 
Fontrier, M., 231, 396 
Food devoured during an education, 

126 

Foot-pads, 341 

Fortune on sericulture in China, 66 
Fountains, natural, 81, 215, 250, 337 
Four years' mulberry pruning, 71 
Frames and stands for sericulture, 92 
Francisco de Paula, San-, 416 
France, arms of, 431 
Frankish quarter, Constantinople, 291 
Fraudulent insurers in Smyrna, 222 
French cupidity in Malta, 27 

precautions in Magnaneries, 

186 

■ silkworm management, 111 

— silk returns, 267 

Fumigation of nursery, 109 



G. 

Gade«i (Cadiz), 431 
Galita islands. 17, 413 



Gallessium mountains. 231 

Galata (Constantinople), 277, 279, 288, 

291, 304, 317 
Galicia, 435 
Gallipoli, 274, 319 

Ganges, bore on the Hoogley and, 
440 

Garden-party, a fatal, 312 
Gata, Cape, 15 

Gathering cocouns, 129 ; mulberry 

leaves, 67 
Gebel-Tarif, 421 
Gendarmerie, 343, 353 
General Osman Pasha, 354 
Genoese castles, 308-311, 331 
George, King of Greece, 132, 135 
Georgio island, St., 401, 402 
George's Channel, St., 439 
German competition in the East, 

294 

German Emperor, 339 

Germans in Ai'din, 238 

Gerusia of Sardis, 379 

Ghiaour-Keui or Hammedia, 54 

Gibraltar, Bay of, 419 ; cost of main- 
taining, 423 ; defences of, 423 ; de- 
scription of, 420 ; dislike of soldiers 
to, 424 ; fauna and flora of, 420 ; 
great siege of, 421 ; history of, 421 ; 
Liverpool to, 1-12 ; Straits of, 
11, 415, 417, 419, 429; suggestions 
concerning, 425 ; to Liverpool, 425 ; 
to Malta, 13 

Gilliatt and. the octopus, 414 

Gladstone, Mr., 11, 12, 141 

Gold and silver coinage, first issue of, 
379 

Golden Horn (Constantinople), 278, 

288, 303, 316 
Goths, 309, 428, 431 
Government bullied bv Maltese priests, 

29 

Government offices (Smyrna), 166 
Goza, Island, 21 

Grand Harbour (Malta), 22, 30, 409 
Grafted mulberries, 67 
Gradient, a steep, 236 
Grfline distribution, 49, 51, 56, 60, 75, 
77 

Great siege of Malta, 30 

Greece, mainland of, 400 ; Eussia and, 
323 ; Seven Wise Men of, 379 

Greek Archipelago, 12, 36, 39, 260, 
397 ; appreciation of Mr. Gladstone, 
141, 143 • affection for Rev. Mr. and 
Mrs. Hill of Athens, 137, 144, 146 ; 
and veneration for the memory of 
Lord Cochran, 141 ; brigands in 
Asia Minor, 344, 346; brazier for 
heating rooms, 50, 261 ; girl and 



INDEX. 



453 



brigands, 346 ; maiden of Scio, 144 ; 
holiday, 132 ; hospital and schools, 
135, 139 ; hospitality, 50 ; house- 
wife, 78; improvement, to what 
owing, 133; institutions of Smyrna, 
132]; lady teachers all over Asia 
Minor, 146 ; landlady, a, 240 ; popu- 
lation of Asia Minor, 133; prelates 
at Smyrna, 135; interesting sericul- 
turists, 49 ; sympathies estranged 
from Kussia, 141; thirst for know- 
ledge, 41 

Grifhtt, John, of Bournabat, near 
Smyrna. Epitome of that gentle- 
man's sericultural experience, 47-97 ; 
107-131; 147-164; 174-208 and 
257-268 

Bournabat silk harvest of 1885, 
257-268 

Difficulties attacked and van- 
quished, 48 

Distribution of graine at Bour- 
nabat, 75 ; Chobanissa, 60 ; 
Hagelar, 49 ; Magnesia, 51 ; 
Nymphio, 77 ; general, 258 

Educating the silkworm, 107-131 ; 
general instructions, 109, 110; 
detailed instructions, 115-131; 
experiences of 1885, 257-268. 

Invigorating practice with silk- 
worms, 161 

Mulberry cultivation, 62-74. 

Mysteries of reproduction, 147- 
164 

Nursery, the, and its appliances, 
86-97 

Pasteur's Cellular system, 156- 
161 

Races of silkworms reared at 

Bournabat, 259 
Twelve rules for sericulturists, 

162 

Use of the microscope in seri- 
culture, 199-208 
Griffitt, W., on Oushak carpets, 101, 396 
Groping for eels, 53 
Grosse, Mina (Deaconesses' Institution, 

Smyrna), 339 
Growing mulberries at Bournabat, 69 
Guardia, Mount (Galita Island-), a 

recent volcano, 17, 18 
Guebze district, brigands in, 351 
Guistuppi village, 45 
Gulf and Bay of Srnvrna, 43. 172, 215, 

270, 326, 331 ; of Tunis, 411 
Gyaros island (Jura), 400, 
Gygean Lake (Sardis), 377, 378 ; Gyges, 

377, 378 

Gymnasium at Hierapolis, 251 ; Lao- 
dicea, 254 



Gypsies, encampment of Turkoman, 
313 



H. 



Hacho, Mount, 428 

Hadji Mustafa Effendi, 395 

Hadji Nachid Pasha, 85, 172, 210, 

214, 219, 242, 356, 395 
Hagelar village, 49 

Halka Bounar (Diana's Bath), 53, 215 

Hallam, Dr. Henry, 200 

Halys river, 378 

Hamilton, Lady Claud, 178, 189 

Hamilton, Sir W., 248, 251, 378 

Hammedia or Ghiaour — Keui, 54 

Hannibal, 374 

Harbour steamers, 331 

Hard workers, advice to, 1 

Harvey, Dr. W., 200 

Hassan Effendi, 52 

Haunts of brigands, 344-354 

Helen of Troy, 401 

Hellespont (Dardanelles), 271-274, 

301, 319 
Henri Quatre, 175 

Hercules, pillars of, 11, 418, 421, 426, 
428 

Heracleidae, 377 

Hereditary flaclierie, 190 ; accidental, 
192 

Hermit's hut, Malea, 37 
Hermus River, 54, 213, 219, 330, 377 
381 

Herodotus, 377 

Hesperides (Scilly Isles), 438 

Hierapolis and Laodicea, 221, 230, 

242, 330, 386-393 
Highly corpusculous graine, 180 
Hill, Rev. Mr. and Mrs., of Athens, 

137, 144, 146 
Hindering incubation by use of ice, 66 
Hippocrates, 401 

Hippodrome (Constantinople), 284, 286, 
343 

History of an incubation, 263 
History of some silkworms, 259 
Hoang-Ti, Emperor (China), 66 
Homer, on the Niobe, 57 ; Homer's 

tomb, 53,.215 
Homeward bound, 395 
Hoo-Chow silk, 67 
Hoogly river, 440 
Horsunlee, 239 
Horoz Keui village, 55 
Hospital, Greek, 138 

, Turkish, 167-169 

Hospitality of Philadelphians, 384 



454 



INDEX. 



Hot pool, Hierapolis, 250, 251, 388, 
389 

Hours of feeding silkworms, 117 

Houses bought to be burned, 224 

How infection in silkworms is com- 
municated, 182 

How to use the cocoon steamer, P5; 
incubator, 88; leaf cutter, 90, 262 

pierced paper tray, 91 ; 

pruning knife, 71 

discriminate between pebrlne 

and scratches, 184 

Hugo, Victor, 414 

Human diseases & silkworms, 186, 187 
Hussein Hilmi Effendi, 212, 214, 356, 
395 

Hutton, Mr. (Smyrna), 52, 396 
Hybrid silkworms, 261 
Hygrometer and thermometer, 89 



I. 

Ice used to hinder incubation, 66 
Ignatius to the Tralleans, epietle of, 
238 

Iliad of Homer, where written, 215 

Imbros Island, 319 

Imperial Kiosk (Bosphorus), 307 

Impudent priests (Malta), 29 

Incendiary doctor, an, 224 

Incubation, premature, 78 ; retarded, 
66 ; scientific, 109, 115 

Incubator, the, 88 

Indigenous yellow silk moth, 266 

Indigo colour of the Mediterranean, 22 

given to silkworms, 64 

Industrial School (Smyrna), 169, 331 

Infecting healthy silkworms experi- 
mentally, 182, 191 

Instructions in sericulture, 47-97, 
107-131; 147-164; 174-208; 257- 
268, viz. :— 

Ages of silkworms and manage- 
ment, 116-126 
Arranging brushwood for spinning, 
127" 

Cocoons strung for reproduction, 
149 

Consignment of graine, precautions 

necessary in, 155 
Counting corpuscles, method of, 

205 

Coupling silk-moths, 151 
Dissecting for inspection, 195 
Educating the silkworm, 107- 
131 

Examining microscopically, 179- 
198 

Experiments with disease, 182, 191 



Flacherie, 86, 94, 107, 148, 161, 

163, 176, 188-196 
Gathering the cocoon crop, 12:) 
Giiffitt's, Mr., Invigorating Prac- 
tice, 161 

Incubation, accelerated, 156; 

hindered, 66; ordinary, 115, 

263 ; premature, 78 
Inspecting for reproduction, 206 
Issue of the moths, 150 
Issue of the worms, 78, 109, 115, 

161, 263 

Method of producing cellular 

graine, 158 
Mounting to spin, 126 
3Iuscardine or calcinetto disease, 

197 

Pasteur's cellular system, 156 
Pebrine, 86, 94, 107, 151, 157, 161, 

176-188, 203-208 
Preserving the egjrs, 154 
Removing graine from cloths, 153 
Selecting cocoons for reproduction, 

147 

Stringing do., 149 
Twelve rules for sericulturists, 162 
Intellectual recuperation of the Greeks, 
133 

Ionia, 239 ; Ionian colonists, 364 ; 

confederacy, 365 ; Ionic Greeks, 400 
Ionian Islands, 12, 36, 216 
Irish coast, 439 
Irish grievance, 425 
Iron ore of Serpho Poulo, 39 
Irrigation in AiMin, means of, 215 
Isolation of mulberry plantations, 72 
Italian sericulture, 112, 267 



J. 

Jacob's Well (Boudjah), 332 
Janissaries, the, 286, 341-343 
Java, volcanic cones of, 302 
Jerusalem Chamber, the, 255 
Jews, references to, 333, 390 
John, St., church of, Malta, 27 ; Per- 
gamos, 371 

,sepulchre of Ephesus,359,362, 

John, Don, of Austria, 414 

Jolly, Mr. & Mrs. (Constantinople), 396 

Jordan Valley, 302, 303 

Journal de Smyrne, 212 

Juan, Don, I. of Portugal, 428 

Judas trees, 336 

Julia Judkins, 403 

Junciion of brigands' forces, 353 

Jupiter, thunderbolts of, 383 

Jura island, 400 

Justinian, 428 



INDEX. 



455 



K. 

Kadikeuy, 288, 305, 316 
Kadri Bey, 395 
Kalamata, gulf of, 34 
Kalamos volcano, Melos, 38 
"Kali einara sas Keyrea f — acharisfco," 
50 

Kalogrees (hybrid silkworms), 261 
Kara Bournou Peninsula, 43 
Kara Giorghis (peasant farmers), 219 
Karaman, General, 55, 56, 383 
Karatasch village, 45 
Karavi island, 39, 402 
Kedar s.s., 395, 435, 439 
Keen thirst for knowledge in Greeks, 
41 

Keeping diaries, 11, 21, 46, 31«, 404 
Kelchie Kaleh (Goat's Castle), 232 
Kemal Bey, Governor of Bhodes, 214, 
356 

Keuylu (near Dede Agatch), 324 
Keos island, 401 ; Khios island, 325, 
397 

Khyvotos, M. Fokion Poletheros, 396 
Kiatib Oglu, 337 
Kiosk village, 238 

Knife for shredding mulberry leaves, 

90, 262 
Kodus river, Smyrna, 43 
Konak, Smyrna, 166, 354 
Kondoleon, A. E., Smyrna, 139, 396 
Konialo town, 349 

Koukloudjah village, 211, 331, 335, 336 
Kovari, Mount, 399 
Krakatoa island, 302 
Kuyujak village, 239 
Kuluk town, 353 

Kyrilos, A., Bishop of Christopholeos, 

135, 396 
Kytlmos island, 400, 402 

L. 

Labour, agricultural, 216 
Lacedaemonia, 36, 37, 403 
Laggard silkworms, 118, 129, 266 
Lake Bod, in Koumelia, 323 

Gygean, near Sardis, 377 

Marble, of Hierapolis, 248, 251 

Pegasaean, near Turbali, 232 

Pantellaria, an old crater, 19 

Tantalus, near Smyrna, 53, 54, 

335 

Lakonia, Gulf of, 34 
Lands End, Cornwall, 438 
Land Tax in Asia Minor, 220 
measure, Turkish, 218 



Laodicea, approach from Hierapolis, 
254 

, aspect of at present, 255 

, discovery at, 392 

, destruction of, 391 

, historical facts concerning, 

255, 390 

, references to, 221, 230, 330, 

383, 388, 390-333 
Large-leaved mulberries, 67 
Larks, mud, groping for eels, 53 
Last glimpse of Smyrna, 397 
Leaf-cutter, and shredding mulberry 

leaves, 89, 90, 262 

■ famines, mulberry, 73, 264 

Leander's Tower, Bosphorus, 304 
Leave Constantinople, 319 

Eoumelia, 325 

Smyrna, 397 

Leaves of the wild mulberry, 68 

Leek, a Welsh symbol, 441 

Legends of Andros island, 398 ; the 

Archipelago, 325, 398, 400 
the Bosphorus, 309, 314 ; 

Carthage, 415; Ephesus, 361 
, Kelchie Kaleh, 232; 

Macro Nici island, 400 
an Octopus, 414 ; Perga- 

mos, 369 ; Sardis, 378 
Westminster, 311 ; Zea 

island, 401 
Leona, Africa, 428 
Leonidas and Thermopylae, 404 
" Les deux Freres " (Smyrna Baro- 
meter), 54 
Lessons taught by experiments on 

pebrine, 182-186 



flacherie, 191-193 
Lethaus river, 237, 239 
Lettuce-fed silkworms, 64 
Levant, 1 ; inflammable houses, 223 • 

steamers, 2 ; three scourge s of, 222 
Library and museum of Greeks of 

Smyrna, 139 
Lidja of Balgora Ghikekiov, 45 
Lighthouses: Cape Clear, 439; Finis- 

terre, 435 ; Lynus point, 442 ; Mersey, 

3, 443 ; Sabinal, 416 ; Spartel, Tangi r, 

Tarifa, and St. Vincent, 10 
Liquorl-e, 211, 238 
Lisbon, 8, 433 

Literary activity, 11, 21, 46, 318, 404 ; 

History, Hallam's, 200 
Litter, careful removal of, 91 
" Little Earthquake " of Smyrna, 397 
Liverpool to Gibraltar, 1-12 ; Gibral- 
tar to Liverpool, 425-443 
Lizard Point, Cornwall, 438 
Loading grain at De'de' Agatch, 321 



456 



INDEX. 



Lombardy attacked by pebrine, 177 
' London Society,' quotation from, 186 
Looms for Turkey carpets, 102 
Loss to Turkey of Bessarabia, 342; 

Ionian Islands, Moldavia, Servia, and 

Wallachia, 343 
Louis XIV. and French sericulture, 

175 

Luinois, Eear-Admiral, 427 

Lycurgus, 33, 404 

Lyous river, 239, 246, 390 

Lydia and Croesus, 53, 378 ; Lydus or 
Lud, 377; Kiver Lydus, 373; of 
Thyatira, 374 ; Lydian women, 378 

Lynus Point, Cornwall, 443 

Ly sander, 38 

Lysimachus, 53 



M. 

Macaeeus, a King of Mitylene, 325 
Macedomans, 220 
Macleod, Eev. Dr. Norman, 366 
Madura airantiaca ( Osage orange), 64 
Macro Nici island, 401 
Mseander river, 213, 235, 239, 246, 
387, 390 

Magnanerie, the (silkworm nursery), 

86-97, 108, 125, 150, 187 

, visit to a French, 186 

Magnesia under Sipylus, 51, 55, 59, 

219 382 

Thorax, 55, 236, 237 

Mahmoud II., 341-344 

Mahomet Ali of Egypt, 341 

Makri Kivi, Staniboul, 319 

Malaga, 15, 417 

Malahacen mountain, 15, 417 

Malcozzi, M. Thales, 396 

Mai de mer, 4-7, 406 

Malea, Cape, 37, 402 

Male and female cocoons, 147 

Malta, arrival at, 22, 409 ; appearance 
of, 22, 409, 410 ; batteries, forts, and 
moorings, 22, 409; Church of St. 
John, 27 ; effects of sunrise over, 22 ; 
Governor s palace, 26 ; industries, 25 ; 
piquante female dress, 24, 25 ; plants 
in bloom, 26 ; swarms of priests, 25 ; 
Koman Catholic intolerance and arro- 
gance, 29 ; war ships, 31 ; to Smyrna, 
32-46 

Manes, King of Lydia, 377 
Manufacture of Turkey carpets, 100 
Marathonisi, gulf of, 34, 405 
Marble at Ephcsus, discovery of, P61 

fronted houses, Smyrna, 226 ; 

Syra, 39 



Marble lakes and terraces, Hierapolis, 

218, 251, 330 
Marcopoli, M., of Smyrna, 396 
Marcus Aurelius, 365, 366 
Marine engagements, Gibraltar, 421 ; 

Tarifa, 427; Trafalgar, 430; St. 

Vincent, 432 
Mariolatry, 20 

Marmora, Sea of, allusion to, 210 ; cool 

breeze from, 305 ; depth of, 275 ; 

extent of, 274 ; Gallipoli on, 274, 319 ; 

islands in, 275, 288, 292, 316, 319 ; 

Eodosto on, 275, 319, 322 
Marochetti's Skutari memorial, 305 
Marseilles, 418 
Marsyas river, 239 

Mason, Captain George (Yateley), 65 
Massacre of the Janissaries, 343 
Matapan, Cape, 32-34, 402, 405 

to Gibraltar, 406-424 

Mavroidhy, M. (Smyrna), 52, 141, 396 
Maxims from the Alcoran (Koran), 167 
Medes, 220 

Mediterranean, colour of, 22, 270 ; deep- 
est part of, 415 ; entrance to, 11 ; in 
the, 10-46, 269-271, 319-326, 397- 
428 ; sky tints, splendour of, 13, 15, 
270 ; steamer fares, 2 ; storm in, 406 ; 
volcanic region of, 18, 405, 406 

Medo-Persians, 379 

Mehemed Noury Bey, 172 

Mehemet II., 309 

Meles river, the Homeric, 52. 215, 337 
Melos island, 38 
Menai Strait, 442 
Mendicants of Smyrna, 216 
Menemen village, 54 
Merchandise seized by brigands, 350 
Meridian of Greenwich, 16 
Mermnadae, 377 
Mersenliqui, 337 
Mersey light-ships* 3 
Messageries Marit'nies, 225 
Messogis mounta^as, 248, 251, 255, 344, 
388 

Metropolis, ruins of, 231 
Microscope, use of, in sericulture, 199- 
208 ; counting corpuscles, 205 ; dis- 
tinguishing disease, 204 ; examina- 
tion by, 180-185, 189, 190, 193-197, 
202-208; inspecting for reproduction, 
206 ; instructions how to use, 201 ; 
instrument recommended, 94, 201 ; 
management of light, etc., 203 ; 
Pasteur's success with, 179 ; remarks 
on early history of the, 199 
Miletus island, 239 
Milford Haven (Pembrokeshire), 440 
Mills of Nymphio, 81 ; Pactolus, 380 
Mimas Peak (Gulf of Smyrna), 43 



INDEX. 



457 



Minorca island, 415 

Mist-trumpets on the Mersey, 3 ; at 

Cape Matapan, 33 
Mitylene (Lesbos) island, 214, 270, 325, 

369 

Moda Bay (Bosphorus), 290 
Modena Maurogenia (of Negropont), 
400 

Mohammed's banner, 317; prayer rug, 
104 

Moldavia, loss of, to the Turks, 343 
Money, Turkish, 218 
Moors, 15, 416, 418, 427, 431 
Morea, 32, 405 
Morocco, 428 

Morus alba (white mulberry), 62-74, 
405; cultivation of the, 49, 67, 68, 
70, 71, 72, 211; cuttings, 69; graft- 
ing, 67, 69 ; growing in hedges, 
70; Chinese mulberry gardens, 72 ; 
layering, 70 ; leaf harvest in China, 
72; preserving leaves, two methods, 
73 ; pruning, 68, 71 ; seedlings, 69 

Mosques of Constantinople, 282, 284, 292 

Mother of the Sultan, 306 

Moths (silk), Bagdad breed exceptional 
in laying, 153 ; coupling, 151 ; ex- 
amination of, 179-186, 206 ; issuing, 
150 ; pioneer, 267 

Motril (Spain), 417 

Mounted guards, 82, 244 

Mounting to spin, silkworms, 265 

Mouth of the Tagus, 9 

Mudirs of Nymphio, 82, 395; Serai- 
keuy, 242 

Mud-larks, 53 

Muscardine disease, 197 

Music-room, Polytechnic, Smyrna, 171 

Museums of antiquities and costumes, 
Constantinople, 287 

Mustapha Bairaktar (Chief of the 
Janissaries), 341 

Mutilated sculpture, Hierapolis, 250 

Mutilation by brigands, 351 _ 

Muzaia mountain (Algeria), 16 

Mycale, Cape (Asia Minor), 344 

Mylopotamos (Cerigo island), 35 

My sea, bookmakers of, 370 

Mysteries of Samothraki, 321 



N. 

Nan-Tsin (China), 66 

Napoleon Bonaparte and silk-farmm. 

Narrows of the Bosphorus, 309 

Natural-coloured silk, 64 

fountains, 81, 215, 250, 337 



Nature of soil around Smyrna, 210 
Naval engagements, Gibraltar, 421 ; 

Tarifa, 427; Trafalgar, 430: St. 

Vincent, 432 
Neglect of modern languages, 295 
Negro, Cape, 17 
Negropont island, 398-400 
Nelson, Lord, 427, 430, 432 
Neptune's tribute, 4-7, 406 
Nevada, Sierra, 15, 416, 417 
New Zealand volcanic outbreak, 302, 

387 
Niagara, 388 

Nightingale, Florence, ?04 
Nikolo, Port St., 401 
Niobe, the|(Magnesia), 56, 58 
Nissa (Strabo's birthplace), 239 
"Nix Mangiare" (nothing to eat), 
23 

Noah or Manes, 377 
Nomads, Turkoman, 252 
Noury Bey, Mehemed, 395 
Number of mulberry trees per acre, 65 
Nursery and its appliances, 86 
Nymphio, 77-85; acropolis and for- 
tress of, 82 ; bad roads, 85 ; brigands 
of, 347 ; cherry orchards, 77 ; doctor 
of, 79 ; graine distribution at. 78 ; 
healthiness of, 80 ; mills and m I ers, 
81 ; Mudir, 82 ; ride among the 
mountains, 82 ; Sesostris or Barneses 
II., believed to be the oldest bas-relief 
in the world, 79, 84 



O. 

Oak-fed silkworms, 64 
Obelisk at Constantinople, Egyptian, 
284 

O'Blyn, George (The Goblin), 407 
Objects of interest in Malta, 22-31 
Ocean, wailing apostrophes to the, 6 
Octopus, torturing an, 41 ; fisheries of, 
413; scene with an, 414 

of the North, 293 

O'Driscoll's, 439 

Oglu family, Djirid, 353 ; Kiatib, 337 ; 

Tchapan, 342 
O'Hara's Tower, Gibraltar, 425 
Okhi, Mount, 399 
Old Age Island (Siphnos), 38 
Oldest sculptures in the world, 56, 58, 

79, 84 

Old dame of Nvmphio, 80 
Olives, 49, 54, 211, 238 
Oleanders, 253, 374 
Oliviri port, Mitylene island, 325 
Omurlu, 238 

Opinions about Gibraltar, 425 



458 



INDEX. 



Opium, 237, 238, 239; seized by 

brigands, 350 
Oporto, 434 

Oppidolo (Pantellaria), 19 
Orari, 15 ; pirates of, 416 
Orange-growing, 49, 169, 211 
Ordinary Maltese walking-attire, 24 
Oregon, ss., 3 ; loss of, 3 
Origin of the Bosphorus, probable, 
301 

Oriental rascaldom, 59, 345 
Ormond, Duke of, and Vigo, 434 
Ornament, egg-and-dart, 250 
Ortakeuy (Bosphorus), 306 
Osage orange, food for silkwoim?, 64 
Osman Pasha, General, 355, 395 
Osmans, 55, 58, 219, 220, 342, 350, 
353 

Osman, the sword of, 317 
Ottoman misrule, 384 
Ouessant (Ushant), 438 
Ouloodjak, 54 

Our party riding to Hierapolis, 244 
Oushak, 85 ; carpet- weaving at, 100 



P. 

Pactoltjs river, 379 
Pagus, Mount, Smyrna, 269, 366 
Palace of the Governor, Malta, 26 
Paleologho (an artist of Mitylene), 140 
Palmerston, Lord, 382 
Palos (associated with Columbus), 431 
Pambouk Kalesi (Hierapolis), 388 
Pantellaria island, 18, 411 
Panormus, harbour of, 360 
Parchment, origin of, 369 
Pardoning brigands, 353 
Parthenon at Athens, 360 
Passengers, fellow-, 3, 270, 397 

, employments of, 5, 11, 21 

Pasteur, Louis, 65, 86, 156, 179, 199, 

257, 259, 267 
Pasquali family, Smyrna, 140, 396 
Pattern of Turkey carpets rarely 

change, 103 
Patients in hospitals admitted free, 

136, 167 
Patersons of Smyrna, the, 396 
Paul's, St., London, 360; St. Paul, 

374, 391 
Pauper s letter, a, 217 
Peach growing, 77, 211 
Peasant silkworm educators, 263 
Pebrine, 86, 94, 107, 151, 157, 161, 176- 

188, 203-208 
Peccacho Voleta Mountain, Spain, 15 
Peculiarities of Oushak carpets, 101 



Pegasaean Lake, 232 
Pehlivan and his cut-throats, 351 
Peloponnesian war, 38, 403 
Pelopia (Thyatira), 373 
Pembroke and country, 440, 441 
Penal settlement, Eoman, 400 
Pentedaktylos mountains, Greece, 32 
Pera (Constantinople), 279, 281, 288, 

291, 297, 298, 304, 317 
Peregal island, 428 
Perplexities of sericulture, 264 
Period of an education, 259 
Perseus and the Gorgon's head, 38 
Persians, 220 

Permanganate of potash disinfectant, 
119 

Pergamos, allusions to, 221, 330, 368- 
372 

, Eumenes II., king of, 369 

, history of, 369 

, library, and invention of 

parchment, 370 

, majestic ruins, 371 

, situation of, 369 

Petali gulf, 400 

Petrifying water of Hierapolis, 249, 
251, 252 

Pherekydes (tutor to Pythagoras), 42 
Philadelphia (Allah Scheir), 220, 221, 
240, 328 

beauty of situation, 380 

destroyed by an earth- 
quake, 382 

, history of, 382 

reaping machine, story of 

a, 385 

, silk-farming at, 384 

Philip of Macedon, 400 
Philippopoli, 321 

Philoxenus, cistern of (Constantinople), 

282, 286 
Phocalo, 344 

Phoenicians, 34, 415, 418, 430 
Porphyry caves, Cerigo, 35 
Phrygian carpets, 98 
Picking and shredding mulberry 

leaves, 262 
"Pied Piper of Hamelin," 366 
Pierced paper travs, 90, 92 
Pillars of Hercules, 11, 418, 421, 426, 

428 

Pink apes of Gibraltar, 428 
Pink terraces of Kotomahana, 302, 
387 

Pioneers in sericulture, 118, 127, 265, 

266, 267 
Pirates, 416, 439 
Pittacus of Mitylene, 325 
Pixodorus, 361 
Plagues, silkworm, 86 



INDEX. 



459 



Plane tree at Therapia, historical, 314 
Planting mulberries in France, 65 
Platys, M. Jean D., Smyrna, 396 
Plmgherbeb Point, Malta, 22 
Plucking mulberry leaves, 67 
Political remarks, 11, 323 
Pollastro (Galita Islands), 18, 413 
Pollard mulberries in Turkestan, 68 
Polycarp the martyr, 366 
Polyglot ripple of speech, 76 
Polytechnic, Smyrna, 169 
Pomegranates, 236, 253 
Pontoon ferry over the Hermus, 54 
Pope's Homer on the " Niobe," 57 
Popish processions in Malta, 23 
Poppy growing, 237 
Population of Asia Minor, 133 
Porte, the, 351 
Portuguese coast, 8, 432 
Poseidon and Amphitrite in Syra, 42 
Position of the Sesostris rock carving, 
84 

Powdering and preserving mulberrry 

leaves, 73 
Prayer rug, story about a, 104 
Prayers for King George, Greece, 132 
Precautious in gathering mulberry 

leaves, 67 
daring education, 116- 

129 

Prelim-naiies of the silk harvest, 47 
Premature incubations, 78 
Preparing for the silk season, 109 
Preserving graine (silkworms' eggs), 
154 

mulberry leaves, 73 

Prete, Matthew, Malta, 28 
Priene, (JEgean Sea,) 239 
Pride of the Greeks in their institutions, 
141 

Princes islands (Sea of Marmora), 275, 
316 

Prince of Wales, 288, 304 
Prion, Mount, Ephesus, 360; 361 
Private caravansary, 240 
Procurator-GeneraL of Aidin, 354, 355 
Products of Philadelphia, 38 1 
Promontorium Nerium, 435 
Propontis, 301 

Pruning the mulberry, 68, 71 
Psara islands, 398 
Ptolemy, 370, 371 
Publi, M., Smyrna, 52, 396 
Purity essential in sericulture, 110 
Purser, Mr., Smyrna and Aidin railway, 
331 

Pushing insurance man, the, 224 
Pygmalion, 415 
Pythia, 380 
Pyxara, Mount, 399 



Q. 

Quantity of food eaten by silkworms, 

66, 112, 113, 117-126 
Quartermaster's opinions, 14, 19 
Quarantine harbour, Malta, 22, 30 

station, Smyrna, 169 

Queen Adelaide at Malta, 29 
Quercus iEgilops, 239 



R. 

Rabbi, a, 333 

Railways, Smyrna and Aidin 230 

Boujah, 331 

Bournabut, 135 

137, 332 

Cassaba, 51, 101, 

Rainfall at Seraikeuy, 242 
Rameses II. or Sesostris, 79, 84 
Ramizan, 306 

Ransom paid brigands, 346-353 
Ras-el-Amish (Algeria), 16 
Reaping machine at Philadelphia, 385 
Reasons for rejecting double cocoons, 
148 

Reeling silk, 96, 97 
Reformer, a Turkish, 341 
Regalia of the Sultan, 317 
Regulation of the magnanerie, 86 
Relics in palace, Malta, 27 
Removal of litter, 91 ; eggs, 153 
Reproduction, mysteries of, 147-164 
Reservoirs, 250, 286, 313, 335 
Residence among the Chinese, 

Fortune's, 66 
Result of a silk season at Bournabat, 

267 

Retarding incubation, 66, 78 

Revival of Smyrna silk trade, 258 

Rhoas (Laodicea), 390 

Rhodes island, 214, 325 

Rhymes, 4, 7, 13, 23, 55, 57, 169, 301, 

311, 403, 407, 434, 435, 444 
Rhymster, a groaning, 7 ; a revived, 13, 

14 

Riccasch, Fort, Malta, 22 

Richard Cceur de Lion, 53, 314, 331 

Ricketty houses and boats, 225 

Ride among the Nymphio mountains, 

a, 83 
Righeb Pacha, 342 
Road making, 213, 220 
Roberts' College (Constantinople), 

298, 308, 309 
Rocca, Cape, 8 
Rodosto town, 275, 319, 322 



460 



INDEX. 



Eolande, M. (Switzerland), 260 
Roman penal settlement, 400 

Catholic excuse for Mariolatry, 20 

Romanidhy, Dr., 396 
Romeli, battle of, 312 
Eoqueta mountains, 417 
Rotomahana, pink terraces of, 302, 387 
Roumelia, 318-324 
Roumili light (Bosphorus). 300 
Ruimet de Talles, 64 
Ruin of Laodicea, 256, 391 
Rumili Hissar, 308-311, 316 
Russian fleet, 303 ; Czar, 310 ; Eye, 
342; Squadron, 312 



S. 

Sabbath, preparation for, 16 
Sadyattes, King of Lydia, 378 
Samos, gulf of, 360 
Samothraki island, 320-322 
Sanderli, gulf of, 369 
Sanjak Kalissi (Smyrna), 43, 269, 331 
Sanjak-sherif (Mohammed's banner;, 
317 

San Stefano (Constantinople), 319 

Santiago fort (Algeciras), 427 

Sappho, 325 

Saraikey village, 348 

Sardis, 61, 219, 221, 329, 375-380 ; Al- 
yattis, King of, 378 ; Croesus, the 
wealthy, 378 ; dice, first invented at, 
379 ; fall and. destruction of, 380 ; 
gold and silver first coined at, 379 ; 
history of, 377; kings of, 378-380; 
Lake of Gyges, 378 ; Lydian women, 
378 ; Pactolus river, 379 ; Seven 
Wise Men of Greece, 379 ; splendour 
of, 379 ; tomb of Alyattis, 378 

Scenes of interest : at Athens, 145 ; 
Archipelago, 319, 325, 397-401 ; at 
the Apocalyptic Church sites, 254- 
256, 358-393; Bay of Biscay. 6- 
8, 435-437; the Bosphorus, 279, 
300-315; at Bournabat, 47, 75, 36- 
97, 107-131, 147-164, 174-208, 257- 
268; with brigands, &c, 340-356; 
in China at mulberry harvest, 72 ; 
connected with a prayer-rug, 104; 
at Constantinople, 280-293, 316- 
319 ; on the Dardanelles, 271-274, 
319 ; at Dede Agatch, Roumelia, 320 
-324; at Gibraltar and straits, 10, 
11, 14, 419-424 ; at graine distribu- 
tion, 49, 60, 75, 78, 80 ; in the Gulf 
and Bay of Smyrna, 43, 269, 326 ; 
at Magnesia under Sipvlus, 55, 219, 
382 ; under Thorax, 236', 237 ; Malta, 
21-31, 409-41) : Marmora, sea of, 



274-276, 319, 323; Mediteranean, 
13-46, 269-271, 319-326, 397^29; 
Nymphio, 77-85 ; on the railways, 
51, 101, 135, 137, 230, 331, 332; 
Roumelia, 321-324 ; Smyrna, 46, 52, 
104-106, 132-146, 165-173, 209- 
229, 327-339, 395-396; at Syra 
(a Greek island), 39-43 ; with octo- 
podia, 41, 414; at Oushak, 102- 
104 

Saumarez, Admiral, 427 
Saussure's hygrometer, 89 
Sauve qui peut, 366 
Schliemann, Dr., 394 
School attendance at Syra, 41 
Schools of Smyrna, 139, 172 ; Thvatira, 
376 

Scilly Islands, 438 
Scio island and Greek maiden, 144 
Scipio, 374, 415 
Sea-sickness, 5-7, 406-409 
Seedlings, wild mulberry, 69 
Segment of a corpusculous worm, 185 
Seizanis, M., Miltiades D., 396 
Selamlik, ceremony of the, 306 
Selecting cocoons for reproduction, 147, 
266 

Selemiyyeh barracks (Skutari), 291 
Selenus river, 369 
Seleucus, 373 
Sepia, 41 

Septa or Septum (Ceuta), 428 
Seraglio enclosure, 289; Point, 290, 
319 

Seraikeuv village, 230, 237, 240, 242, 

256, 330, 386 
Seriphino, Father, 138, 396 
Seriphos and Siphno* islands, 38 
Serpho Poulo island, 38 
Servia, loss of, to Turkey, 343 
Service, Divine, at sea, 20, 319 
Sesostris (Rameses II.), 79, 220 
Seven Towers, the (Constantinople), 

286 

Seven Wise Men of Greece, 325 
Severn river, 440 

Sericulture, airiness and purity essen- 
tial in, 87 

Anecdote of, at Philadelphia, 384 
Bournabat silk-harvest of 1885, 
257-268 

Chinese, 66, 72 ; French and 
Italian, 111, 113 

Debernardi on, 113; Fortune on, 
66; Griffitt on, 47-97, 107- 
131, 147-161, 174-208, and 
257-268; Mason on, 65; Miss 
Bird on, 114 ; Pasteur on, 65, 
86, 156, 179, 199, 257, 259, 267 ; 
Robin on, 64 ; Scheuyler on, 68 



INDEX. 



461 



Diseases of the silkworm, 65, 73, 

86, 174-198 
Educating chambers, 261 ; frames, 

93 ; stands, 127 
Educating silkworms, 107-131 
Examining cocoons for sex, 149 
Graine distribution, 75-85 
Griffitt's, Mr., system in detail, 115- 

131 

Incubation, 115 

Issue of the moths, 151 ; worms, 
115 

Microscopic examination, 185, 201 
Moulting, 117-1 2d 
Mounting to spin, worms, 126, 265 
Mulberry, all about the, 62-74 
Mysteries of reproduction, 147- 
164 

Nursery and appliances, 86-97 
Pasteur's views, summary of, 192 
Preliminaries of the silk harvest, 
47-61 

Silk harvests in France, 175 
Silk-spinners, 186 ; silk diagram, 
176 

Shredding leaves for young worms, 
68, 262 

Soil suitable for the mulberry, 66 
Space allowed silkworms at differ- 
ent ages, 93, 110 
Spread of silkworm diseases, 176 
Steaming cocoons, 94, 131, 266 
Stove for heating the magnanerie, 
best, 87 

Stringing cocoons for reproduction, 
149 

Stumping mulberry trees, 67, 68 
Sulphur fumigation of the nursery, 
109 

Superstition associated with, 186, 
187 

Use of the microscope in, 199- 
208 

Varieties of food given in, 64, 68 
Shovel, Sir Cloudesley, 438^ 
Shurshall, Port (Algeria), 16 
Sicily, 20 

Sick man, the, 322 
Sickness near Dede' Agatch, 324 
Sieges of Gibraltar, 421 
Sierra Nevada, 15, 417 
Si-Ling-Shi of China, 66 
Silk districts of China, 72 
Silk of Hoo-Chow, superior, 67 
Silk trade of Smyrna, 108 
Siluraa Insulse (Scilly Isles), 438 
Silver gates at St. John's, Malta, stolen, 
27 

Silver exporting monopoly, a, 337 
Simonides, birthplace of, 401 



Sirocco, tail end of a, 16 

Sites of the Apocalyptic churches, 53, 

358-394 
Skerry Eocks, 4 

Skutari, 288, 289, 291, 296, 304, 316 

Skids on railway carriage wheels, 236 

Smith, Eev. Barnaby, 396 

Smoking, singular punishment for, 333 

Smyrna, Acropolis of, 269; agriculture 
around, 209-221 ; amusing trials 
in, 227, 228 ; ancient Smvrna, 52 ; 
and Aidin railway, 230, 330, 376 ; 
aqueduct near, 331 ; badly-paved 
streets, 328; barometer, the, 54; 
Bay and Gulf of, 43, 172, 215,270, 
326, 331. ; clubs, 47; to Constanti- 
nople, 269 ; Deaconesses' institution, 
297, 339; dancing dervishes, 328, 
329, 365; difficulties of getting 
about, 367 ; to Cape Matapan, 395 ; 
and Cassaba Bailway, 328, 337 ; 
earthquakes, etc., 365 ; to Ephesus, 
375 ; fire-raisers of, 225 ; first bishop 
of, 366; fishermen and silk, 260; 
free fight at the Konak, 354 ; Greek 
institutions of, 132-146 ; harbour 
steamers, 331 ; history of, 364 ; ludi- 
crous scene with a dervish, 365 ; 
mendicants, 216; mosques and 
churches, 328; Polycarp martyred 
at, 366 ; products of, 211 ; Macleod, 
Eev. Dr. Norman, in, 366 ; soil, 210 ; 
statistics of, 213, 327 ; Three Turkish 
institutions, 165 to 173 ; villages 
around, 331 

Solon, 379 

Spartan women, 403 

Spartel, Cape, 10, 429 

Spinning yarn for Turkey carpets, 102 

Splendour of Mediterranean sky-tints, 
13, 15, 270, 436 

Sponge fisheries, 413 

Sponti, M., of Smyrna, 396 

Springs of Halka Bounar, 215, 337 ; 
Hierapolis, 249 ; Nymphio, 81 

Stack Eocks, 441, 443 

Stalactite grottoes (Cerigo), 35 

Stamboul, 278, 279, 291, 317, 319 

Stanhope, Admiral, 434 

Statue de Cybele (Magnesia), 56-58 

St. George's Channel, 439 

Strabo, 52, 231, 239, 373 

Strada Santa Lucia (Malta), 23 

Stream of Forgetfulness, 237 

Streets of stairs (Malta), 23 

St. Sophia mosque, 279, 282, 317 

St. Vincent, Cape, 9, 432 

Successful peasants, 219 

Suidas on Samothraki, 320 

Suleymaa, mosque of, 303 



462 



INDEX. 



Sultana Valideh, mosque of, 292, 303 

Sultan going to prayer, 306 

Sultan Hissar, 239 

Sultan's murder, scene of a, 304, 305 

Sumptuous sky-tints (Malta), 21 

Suppression of the Janissaries, 3-13 

Sweet Waters of Europe (Golden 

Horn), 281, 291, 317 
Syrens, fog-horns, etc., 3, 33, 437 
Syra island, 39-42 



T. 

Tabulated silk statement, 176 

Tacitus, 382 

Taps, the, 9, 433 

Tail end of a sirocco, 16 

Tailless apes, 428 

Tailor work at Smyrna, Polytechnic, 
171 

Tale of Blood, 398 

Talmud, the, 333 

Tamerlane, 380 

Tanger light, 10 

Tanners of the Selinus, 370 

Tantalus, 52 ; lake of, 53, 54, 335 

Tapestry, St. John's, Malta, 28 

Taravera, Mount, volcanic outbreak, 

302, 387 
Tardily-spun cocoons, 148 
Tarifa light, 10 
Taxation in Asia Minor, 220 
Tchapan Oglu, 342 

Temperature in sericulture, 88, 109, 
115, 189, 259, 263 

during first age, 117; 

second age, 119; third age, 121; 
fourth age, 122; fifth age, 126; 
formation of the cocoon, 129 ; under 
Pasteur's " Cellular System," 156; at 
moulting periods, 192; in connection 
with the disease flaeherie, 87, 192 ; to 
be regulated according to desired 
result, 112, 114, 259 

Temple of Diana (Kphesus), 330 

Tenedos island, 271 

Tenez (Algeria), 16 

Tennessee, sericulture in, 64 

Terms of egg-distributions, 258 

Terpander of Mitylene, 325 

Terraces of Hierapolis, 249, 251, 253 

Teste La, tower of (Almeriu Bay), 
416 

Tests for silkworm disease s> 195-197 
Tewfik Bey, 354, 395 
Thaso island, 324 
Theatre, Hierapolis, 250 
Themistocles, 55, 237 



Theologheithis, Michil, of Nymphio, 
79, 396 

Theophanes of Mitylene, 325 
Theos, Antiochus, 255 
Therapia (Bosphorus), 297, 310, 313- 
316 

Therma island, 400, 402 
Thermometer and hygrometer, 89 115 
Thessaly, 344 

Thingherbab battery, Malta, 22 
Third age of silkworm specially inter- 
esting, 121 
Thirst for knowledge among Greeks, 

41, 146 
Thracian Chersonesus, 274 
Three reasons for rejecting double 

cocoons, 148 
Three scourges of the Levant, 222 
Three Turkish institutions, 165 
Thyatira, 221, 330, 373-376; asso- 
ciated with Seleucus,373; and Lydia, 
a "seller of purple,"' 374; beginning 
of, 373; history of, 373; itinerary, 
375, 376; madder-fields of, 376; 
modern town, Ak-Hissar, 375; to 
Sardis, 375 ; scene of great military 
events, 374; schools of, 376; site 
unknown for ages, 373; situation, 
373 

Tiberius (Koman emperor), 55, 380 
Tigne fort, Malta, 30 
Timarete (first known lady painter), 
361 

Timolus, Mount, 61, 213, 219, 377, 381, 
383 

Timothy, grave of, 362 

Tithe charges in A sia Minor, 220 

Tobacco and Jewish law, 333 

Tobacco Eegie, Constantinople, 396 

" Toilers of the Sea," Hugo's, 414 

Told in the twilight, 144 

Tombs, references to, Abercrombie's, 
Malta, 30; Alyattis, Sardis, 378; 
Homer's, near Smyrna, 53, 215 ; 
Virgin Mary's, Ephesus, 362; Poly- 
carp's, Smyrna, 366; St. John's, 
Ephesus, 362; Timothy's, Ephesus, 
362 

Topkhane (Constantinople,) 279, 288, 

291, 304 
Torinana, Cape, 435 
Torrox (Spain), 417 
Torturing an octopus, 41 ; an octopus 

torturing a man, 414 
Tradition about Scilly Islands, 439 
Trafalgar, Cape, and sea fight, 430 
Training mulberry trees, 67 
Trail es (Aidin), 238 
Trebizond, 210 
Tremuso, Mount, 435 



INDEX. 



463 



Tresforcas, Cape, 415 

Tributes to Mr. Gladstone, 11, 141 ; to 

L. Pasteur, 86 
Trimetaria Cuinbustia (Laodieea), 255 
Troad, the, 271, 2S7, 320, 394 
Trojan trinkets, 287, 394 
Troy, Helen of, 4(Jl 
Truckling to popery in Malta, 29 
Trumpet flower, 64 
Tunis* gulf and town, 17, 412, 413 
Turbaii, 231, 232 

Turbulence of Bav of Biscay, 4, 8, 10, 
406, 435, 436 

Turkey carpets, 98-186 

Turkish antiquities, 287 ; dragoman, 
222, 243 ; educational facilities, 165 ; 
girls at a German school, 298 ; hos- 
pitality, 77, 166, 384; kindness to 
animals, children, servants, and 
strangers, 166; loss through silk- 
worm maladies, 107 ; military escort, 
82 ; money and land-measure, 218 

Turkoman aiomads, 54, 252, 313, 314 

Typho, the monster, 383 

Tyre, Belus, King of, 415 



U. 

Unequal issue of sexes, how arranged, 
152 

Unfortunate Israelite, an, 334 
Unhealthy localities, 54, 233, 324, 338 
Unsectarian system of Greek educa- 
tion, 146 
Uproar of the elements, 6 
Use of ice in hindering incubation, 66 

pierced paper tray, 91 

the microscopy in sericulture, 

199-208 
Ushi.nt to Cape Villano, 8, 433 
Uskudar (Skutari), 304 



V. 

Valens aqueducts and fountains, 286 
Valetta (Malta), 22, 412 
Valette, La, 30 

Valonia oak forests, 54, 100, 23.', 321 
Value of a signature, 81 

silk crop of 185 5 to France, 

177 

land, 217, 218 

Vandalism of touri»ts, 57 
Vandals, 428 

Vapour noxious, against sericulture, 
87 

Varieties of mulberries, 62, 67, 68 



Variety of speech and costume, 76 
Vatika Bay, 404 

Veiled woman, statue of the Niobe, a, 
56 

Venerable Christian, a, 135 
Venetians, 400 

Ventilation in the magnanerie, 87 
Venus, and Ceri^o island, 34 

de Milo, 38 

and the women of Cos, 401 

Verde islet, 427 
Veleta mountain, 15, 417 
Vestiges of temples in Syra island, 
42 

Vettoriosa rocks (Malta), 22 

Vibriones, 189, 192, 193 

Victor Hugo, 414 

Views at Hierapolis, 250 

View from Genoese Tower (Constanti- 
nople), 288 

Vigo Bay and town, 434 

Villainous saltpetre, 132 

Vilayet of Aidin, Greeks in the, 133 

Villano, Cape, 435 

Vines o' Eschol, 19 

Vine-fed silkworms, 64 

Vineyard planting and cultivation, 49, 
2li, 218, 239 

Visit to Greek Church dignitaries, 
Smyrna, 135 

Hospital, Smyrna, 138 

Turkish Hospital, Smyrna, 

166 

French magnanerie, 186 

Volcanic convulsions, 365. 387 

country at Aidin, 238 

region of the Mediterranean, 

18 

Volcano in Melos Island, an active, 38 

on Mount Guardia, a new, 18 

Voracitv of hybrid silkworms, 261 
Vourla village, 217, 365 
Voyaging, pleasures of, 6 

W. 

Wade, Mr., Smyrna, 396 
Wages, carpet-weavers,"103 

, field labourers, 217 

, in the iuterior, 217 

, silkworm tenders, 217 

, Vourla workers, 217 

Wallachia, loss of, to Turkey, 343 
War Ministry, Constantinople, 290 
War ships, Golden Horn, 316; Malta, 
31 

Water in A'idirt, 215; petrifying at 

Hierapolis, 249, 251 
Weather speculations, 48 



464 



INDEX. 



Weaving carpets, an ancient industry, 
98 

Weapons in Governor's palace, Malta, 
27 

Weights of cocoons and worms, 108, 

262, 263 
Wellington, 431 

Welsh church, Metropolitan of, 441 
Western Goths, 428 
Westminster Abbey, 438 
Wexford coast, 441 
What are pebrine and flacherie ? 179 
Where mulberries are grown in China, 
67 

Whitewash magnanerie in spring, 109 
Whining mendicancy at Therapia, 314 
White terraces of Hierapolis, 246- 

252, 387-389 
Wiggins the quartermaster, 14, 19 
Wild mulberry, and how propagated, 

68, 69, 70 

night in Mediterranean, a, 407 

Wilderness of monkeys, a, 428 
Windings of the river Mseander, 235 
Windmills, 54 

Wine fountain on Andros Island, 398 
Winter resort, Malaga, a, 417 
Wolves troublesome among the hills, 
221 

Wolff, Sir H. D., 311 

Women of Cos changed into cows, 401 
Woods, Mr., excavating work at 

Ephesus, 234 
Working Turkey carpets, method of, 

103 



Worm suffering from pebrine, ISO 

dead of flacherie, 18X 

Worms, pioneer, 265, 266, 267 
Words of command on Bosphorns, 303 
Work by Pasteur on silkworms' dis- 
eases 86 

Wreck of the " Sidon," 2 ; " Oregon," 3 
Writers on the Apocalyptic churches, 
358 

X. 

Xerxes, 380, 404 



Y. 

Yarn for Turkey carpets, 102 
Yellow race of silkworms, 260 
Yields of mulberry leaves, 65 

silkworms' eggs, 152 

Young corpuscles developing, 181 
Yourook Osman, 853 
Yousuf Zia Effendi, 169, 395 
Yuzgat town, 350 



Z. 

Zea Channel, 400 ; Island, 400, 401 

Ziebecs, 344 

Zembra and Zembretta islands, 412, 413 
Zinc incubator, 88 ; cocoon steamer, 

94 ; and cabinet for eggs, 154 
Zulis, ancient, 401 



LONDON I PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, STAMFORD STREET 
AND CHARING CROSS. 



I 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: May 2011 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVATION 

111 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



021 649 371 



WSBa 



mm 



n 

■ 



H 



— 



SKI 



Ml 



■ 



KHHi 



H 

&3 



sen 



G QMBW 



bp 



■ 



Han 



£3h 



mm 



mm 



